


Push and Pull

by never_love_a_wild_thing



Series: On the Same Side [2]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: All-Knowing Lydia Martin, Alternate Universe - Criminals, Alternate Universe - Human, Alternative Universe - FBI, Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, Domestic Fluff, Domestic Liam Dunbar/Theo Raeken, Drug Withdrawal, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, Good Friend Mason Hewitt, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Inspired by White Collar, M/M, Memory Loss, Miscommunication, Mystery, Non-Consensual Drug Use, POV Multiple, Pining, Pining Theo Raeken, Plot, Pre-Relationship, Pre-Slash, References to Drugs, Sharing a Bed, Slow Burn, Theo Has a Crush on Liam, Theo Has a Lot of Feelings, Theo Raeken Feels, Violence, mostly passing references, previous Liam Dunbar/Hayden Romero
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-12
Updated: 2018-05-31
Packaged: 2019-04-18 01:09:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 39,372
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14201754
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/never_love_a_wild_thing/pseuds/never_love_a_wild_thing
Summary: Picks up where Eyes Closed, Head First ended. (I recommend reading that first)After Stiles disappears, Liam goes to visit Theo in prison and offer him a deal - help the FBI find Stiles as a Criminal Consultant in exchange for a taste of freedom. Now all that's left is to find Stiles and put a stop to the Beast and the rapid spread of a drug called the Ghost Serum that's making people forget everything about themselves. Easy, right? But when has anything ever been that simple? Especially now that Theo is discovering that there might be something more to the intrigue that Liam had always stirred inside him. Even if that may not matter when a familiar face returns to Beacon Hills.Liam narrowed his eyes. “You’re a bad influence,” he informed him.“Well, you know. Drug lord. Convict. I’m the boy your mother always warned you about,” Theo smirked over his shoulder at Liam, who didn’t seem amused.





	1. Theo

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome back! I am so excited to be posting this fic again, you don't even know! I really didn't want it to take that long, especially after the cliff hanger that I left you on...sorry... I'm pretty sure I'm physically incapable of leaving Thiam alone at this point, though (I already have like 3 other fic ideas for them, which idk when I'll have time to write them), so I'll never be gone from this fandom for long!
> 
> Anyways! This fic will be set up similar to part 1, in that every other chapter will be from Theo's pov, and the rest will alternate between other characters. There's also a bit at the end of each of Theo's chapters from someone else's pov (I'm sure you can guess after reading it). It's only about a paragraph or two, usually, but it does deal with drug abuse (mostly in a vague, detatched way, but still), so if that makes you uncomfortable, feel free to skip everything after ***. Anything that you miss will be explained later probably. It's not necessary to read for the plot, but I think it adds depth.
> 
> Now that all that's out of the way, I'll let you read it! Thanks so much for reading - I hope this was worth the wait!
> 
> Enjoy :)

Theo didn’t mind prison so much. The gym was good, the library was decent, and mostly people left him to his own thoughts. He still wasn’t entirely sure why he had done it. Why he had let himself get caught, given the FBI all the information they needed, even when there was nothing really left for him to gain. Even now, he had a fairly decent plan for escaping. It would take a few months, but he could do it. Somehow, though, the energy for even that had fallen away from him. He found himself, more and more often, thinking of his sister.

In his sleep, in his spare moments of solitude, he saw her pale skin and blue lips. He heard her pleading with him. Even now, he said nothing to interrupt those pleas, letting them carve out more and more space for guilt in his heart. Eventually, they would fade away and he would be left again with a terrible, terrible silence.

He worked out to fill that silence. He read, and he helped to cook meals in the kitchen. In general, the other inmates left him alone, some hating him for things he had done to them or their loved ones, and most scared of what they knew he could do. The guards mostly left him alone because he didn’t give them any problems. Most of them were just as scared of him as the inmates were. He didn’t have a lot of visitors either. None, in fact, except for Liam. Theo liked to pride himself on knowing things, predicting outcomes and behavior patterns. But the second time that he was informed that he had a visitor, was handcuffed and escorted into a private room, sat at the metal table and told to wait – that time, he hadn’t seen it coming.

The door opened, and Liam walked in, waving away the guard with a look of slight irritation. Theo watched him, drinking in the sight of him like a man dying of thirst. His suit was wrinkled and there were dark circles under his eyes. His hair was messy, and his posture, when the door closed behind him, slumped out of its authoritative stance in exhaustion. Theo continued to watch him as he crossed the room and rounded the table to sit in the chair opposite Theo’s. The last time he had seen Liam, he had been full of energy and drive, piecing things together, trying to solve a mystery and catch some criminals. This time, he was deflated. Not totally defeated yet, but close.

“Why do you look better than me?” Liam complained, “You’re literally in jail and you look better than me.”

“Maybe you should try sleeping,” Theo suggested dryly.

Liam groaned, looking about a second away from dropping his head onto the table.

“Not that it’s not nice to see you and everything,” he continued, “But I’m guessing there’s a reason you’re here?”

“Stiles is missing,” Liam sighed, “He was working on the ghost serum and – but you already knew, didn’t you?”

“I guessed,” Theo corrected.

“Do you know who it is? Who’s on the inside?” Liam asked, failing miserably at keeping the hope off of his face. It was one of the things that drew Theo to him repeatedly, Liam trusted over and over and over again. He was proved wrong and he would swear not to let it happen again, only to turn up with an expression just like this one. It would break Theo’s resolve eventually. He wasn’t sure how long he could go on using Liam. He wasn’t sure he could do it now. The worst part was that Liam didn’t even realize that he was doing it.

“No,” Theo said after a minute, “I have a few ideas, though. Clues you could follow…”

“You would be willing to help?” Liam asked, reverting to a healthy amount of suspicion.

“I gave you the serum, didn’t I? I want Sebastian gone as much as you do,” he told him, “And obviously Stiles was onto something if he disappeared like that.”

“You think he was kidnapped?”

“I wouldn’t rule it out.”

They stared at each other.

“If you’re serious about helping,” Liam said slowly, “I have been authorized to make you another deal. Keep in mind, one wrong move, and you come straight back here.”

Already, Theo had an idea of what the deal was, but he doubted that Liam would be as willing to offer it if he didn’t have the upper hand. Theo let him think he had it. “What are you saying?” he asked.

“We want to bring you on as a Criminal Consultant for the FBI,” Liam said, suddenly very business-like, “You would report directly to me as your handler, under Scott’s supervision. You would have a desk at the office, and a tracking anklet with a radius of two miles from the FBI headquarters.”

Theo nodded, processing the information quickly, filtering it through, looking for loopholes, weighing the pros and cons. “Alright,” he agreed.

“Alright?” Liam looked slightly taken aback.

“What, you think I want to stay here?” he raised an eyebrow, “When do I start?”

“I’ll bring the papers back tomorrow, unless you need more time to contact your lawyer,” Liam told him.

“That won’t be necessary,” Theo said simply.

 

When Theo saw Liam again, he was accompanied by an impressive but stern-looking woman. She seemed ageless, with effortless grace and confidence. From one look, Theo suddenly felt more inadequate than he had in a long time. There were faint smile lines by her eyes, but she maintained a distinctly unimpressed look for the entire visit. She was introduced as Noshiko Yukimura, which concerned Theo in what little meaning the name held for him. It seemed, however, that she was the one in charge of Theo’s release into Liam’s custody, because not even a week after her visit, he was walking into the FBI office with an unwieldy anklet blinking its green light steadily under the cover of his pantleg.

“This is your desk,” Liam told him, motioning to an empty copy of his own desk, and then continuing up the stairs to Stiles’s office. “I’ll probably be spending most of my time up here, since it’s the center of operations for Stiles’s case. You remember Lydia Martin.”

She was sitting across the room at her own desk in a loose dress that still somehow looked totally chic and put together, and a pair of tall heels that matched her determined expression. She stood and crossed over to Theo. The boldness was startling.

“I don’t care who you are as long as you find Stiles,” she told him, “But if you mess this up, I will kill you myself.”

Theo glanced at Liam to see him looking slightly terrified, and then looked back at Lydia. “You don’t need to worry about that. We’re on the same side now.”

“For your sake, I hope so.”

Theo wasn’t so sure what to do with this newly aggressive Lydia, but Scott walked in at that moment, looking harassed, but determined as ever, followed closely by a man with dormant laughter lines and military posture that had relaxed over the years. Even as he stood still, there was something uncannily familiar in him. Lydia gave a squeal and rushed past Theo and Liam, practically shoving Scott out of the way to hug the man. Theo looked at Liam, who looked at Scott.

“He’s here to help with the investigation,” Scott explained, shifting uncomfortably.

“Can he do that?” Liam asked doubtfully.

The man let go of Lydia, squeezing her shoulder affectionately. There was something about the way he stood, the way he moved, the way the others treated him, that seemed familiar to Theo, but he couldn’t place it. Like he had known this man once.

“Kid,” he said, looking at Liam, “I used to be the Captain of the Beacon Hills Police Department. You don’t think I have what it takes to help you find my son?”

Of course. Stiles’s dad. The resemblance was impressive.

“No,” Liam squeaked. Theo felt the corners of his mouth draw up into an amused smirk. “I just mean – “

“Strictly speaking,” Scott cut in, “It’s not exactly FBI policy to bring people onto a case when they are emotionally connected to it, but I think we would be hard pressed to find anyone in the FBI or the police department who _isn’t_ willing to risk anything to get Stiles back.”

“What about him?” Stiles’s father nodded at Theo, expression as inscrutable as Stiles’s could get.

“I asked for him,” Lydia said loftily, “He knows more than he lets on, and Liam has him on a tight leash.”

Theo doubted that, but he twitched his pant leg up to show off his new anklet. “All due respect, sir, I’ve already lost everything I had to lose.”

“Yeah,” Stilinski’s frown deepened, “That’s exactly why I don’t trust you.”

“You don’t have to trust him,” Lydia sighed, “But he’s going to help us anyways.”

Theo stared at her, wondering how she could be so sure, even when he himself wasn’t.

 “Do you have any idea of where to start right now?” Scott asked Theo, pulling the conversation back on track.

“I know where the Dread Doctors used to conduct their business,” Theo replied, “I don’t know if there will be anything there, but it’s worth a look.”

“Okay,” Scott nodded, “Liam, take Raeken and Mason if he’s not busy, and check that out. Mr. Stilinski, I’ll get you set up with whatever you need.”

Liam and Theo ducked out of Stiles’s office and headed back to the main floor.

“How do you know where the Dread Doctors’ secret lair is?” Liam asked, accusingly.

“ _Secret lair_?” Theo snorted, “They’re not Bond villains, Liam. And I know because I’ve been there.”

Liam frowned disapprovingly at him and crossed over to Mason’s desk, leaving Theo at a total loss as to how this could possibly be a surprise to Liam at this point. He shook his head in disbelief and followed, amazed that Liam still somehow seemed to think that Theo was better than he actually was. There could be no doubt that he was still unbelievably mad at Theo and that he didn’t trust him the vast majority of the time, but _somehow_ he still got this look on his face every so often like he couldn’t believe how low Theo had stooped this time. If Theo wasn’t already changing his ways for some much deeper reason, he would be afraid of Liam being a good influence on him. Not, he thought, that Liam was necessarily a model FBI agent. He broke the rules too much and got angry easily. He did things his own way and always seemed to be trying to prove himself. It made Theo…not _trust_ Liam, exactly, but like him more, at least.

Mason gave him a look when he caught up to him and Liam. One that said _I don’t trust you and I never will and I know for a fact that you are lying out your ass right this second even if you aren’t actually saying anything._

“Hey Mason,” he said easily.

“Raeken,” Mason returned, voice heavy with suspicion.

Liam ignored the both of them and pressed the button for the elevator. “Where are we going?” he asked after a minute.

“It’s a little complicated to explain,” Theo said to an exaggerated eyeroll from Mason, “But first we have to get my truck.”

 

Needless to say, Liam and Mason were not thrilled about making a detour to pick up Theo’s truck, but as neither of them had a car, they put up with it with minimal complaining. Theo was happy to have his truck back. Even if he wouldn’t be able to drive it far without Liam riding shotgun, it felt like a breath of freedom. And maybe Liam climbing into the front seat next to him, like he was now, looking slightly impressed wouldn’t be so bad. He could live without Mason grumbling under his breath in the back seat, though, even as a smile pulled up on Liam’s cheeks as he watched Theo turn the ignition.

“What?” Theo asked, looking at him.

“Nothing,” Liam’s face looked a little pink in the bright light of the setting sun, “I just didn’t think you were a truck kind of guy.”

“Yeah, I’m just full of surprises,” Theo rolled his eyes with a small smile.

“You know, considering it’s you,” Mason said, leaning forwards between the front seats, “I wouldn’t necessarily say that that’s a good thing.”

The drive out of the city was a little awkward as Liam and Mason mostly talked to each other and Mason threw suspicious looks at Theo every few minutes. Theo was fine with that. He hadn’t figured anyone would really be prepared to trust him after the circumstances of his arrest. He pictured Malia’s expression in that moment, the moment she had realized that he had shot her. It had been off-putting, he had thought, but he didn’t know why. Not until he had time to reflect, for his mind to bring up memories that had been pushed so far down that he was surprised that they could resurface at all. Suddenly, it was his sister’s face, gaping at him in horrified disbelief. Begging him, asking him _why_ , looking at him like he had transformed, right in front of her eyes into a hideous, soulless monster. In a way, he decided, he _had_ that first time. When he shot Malia, though…to him, that had been a different kind of transformation. The reason why he could now feel the blood run cold in his body as he heard his sister speak, in a shuddering breath. _“Why did you kill me?”_

“Theo!” Liam’s arm was suddenly across him, gripping the steering wheel at the top and aiming the car back into the center of the lane.

“Sorry,” he breathed, tightening and then relaxing his hands on the steering wheel as Liam withdrew his arm.

“Are you okay to drive?” Liam frowned at him, “I can take over – “

“No, it’s fine. We’re almost there anyways,” he said, putting on the turn signal and glancing at Mason in the rearview mirror. The suspicion wasn’t gone from his face, but something else was there with it. Like he was trying to figure Theo out. Like maybe he was concerned.

Theo returned his eyes to the road and made the turn onto a semi-private street, where the buildings grew farther and farther apart, trees interspersed throughout, even though they weren’t far from the city. He pulled up in front of the wrought-iron archway that displayed the name _Eichen House_.

“What _is_ this place?” Mason asked, looking up at the mansion of a building in front of them.

“Eichen House. It started out as a military hospital, and then was converted into a mental health facility. As far as I know, it was shut down because the ethics sucked, and then the Dread Doctors bought it to use as one of their labs,” Theo explained, “It’s smart actually, since it’s not far from the city but nobody ever comes here.”

“I can see why,” Liam muttered, looking around. The place was horror-movie creepy and definitely looked abandoned, which Theo was hoping was the case.

He debated driving around the back of the building and entering through the ambulance docks, closer to the labs, but put the truck into park in front of the gate instead. There was nothing quite like going into a building through the morgue, and _that_ morgue, Theo thought, in particular. Besides, if anyone was still here or something had happened, they were better off going in this way. Liam and Mason got out of the truck and followed him up the stairs to the front door, Liam pulling his gun from his holster.

The reception area was empty. It had been mostly unused by the Dread Doctors, whose main uses for the place were the laboratories in the basement and the cells that made up what used to be the closed ward. Theo spared a glance around in case there was anything worth looking at and continued down the hall to a lush office on the right.

“What’s this?” Liam asked, standing in the doorway with Mason as Theo crossed behand the large wooden desk, grabbing some paperclips from the dish on top of it, and started to pick the lock on one of the drawers.

“It’s an office, Liam, what does it look like?” Theo frowned in concentration.

“Hey, you can’t do that without a warrant,” Mason told him.

Theo slid the drawer open and pulled out a key card from inside. “I forgot to bring my key,” he said innocently, as he passed them back out into the hallway. Mason looked like he was going to say something, but Liam shot him a look and they followed Theo to the first door, which looked unnervingly like some of the doors in prison but opened easily to Theo’s key card. After that, it was down a few flights of stairs and through another door into a much more soulless industrial hallway with cells and closed doors lining the walls.

“I thought you said this was a mental health facility,” Mason said in a hushed voice.

“It was,” Theo replied, letting them out of the other end of the hallway, “Just not an ethical one.”

Liam and Mason drew closer as they made their way down the last set of stairs, where Theo had to swipe them through the last door and turn on a light to reveal a similar hallway, with a set of double doors to one side. Theo pushed through them, trying to ignore the twin set of doors on the far side of the room, leading into the morgue, but he shuddered anyways, suddenly cold.

“Okay,” he said, finally, “If there’s anything that can help us, it will be in here. This is where they were working on the Ghost Serum, but someone will have come by to move anything important.”

“So, you’re saying that you brought us all the way here and we probably won’t find anything,” Mason said.

“I’m saying that you’re just going to have to look hard. Eventually everyone makes a mistake,” The told him, glancing at Liam before moving to one side of the room to start looking. It was a huge room with a medical table and other worksurfaces. The cabinets were filled with general-purpose chemicals and supplies, but one of them held a number of books and notebooks, most of which were empty.

“This place is spotless,” Liam said, “It’s not just like they didn’t want anyone to know about the Ghost Serum, it’s like they didn’t want anyone to know that anyone has been here. Ever.”

“Professional clean-up job,” Mason agreed, looking into the empty trash can.

Theo tucked the notebooks back into the cabinet and opened one of the heavy medical texts, flicking through the pages. Half a sheet of notebook paper was tucked about two thirds of the way in, covered with cramped handwriting in blue ink, short phrases, numbers, and pictures of chemical compounds. Not something that would have been left behind, no matter how secretly it had been tucked away.

“Someone’s still working here,” he muttered to himself.

“Guys, I found something,” Mason said, as Theo turned to tell them about his findings.

“Me too,” he showed them the paper, the three of them meeting at one of the worktops, where he set down the paper and Mason set down the glove. Black leather. There was something familiar about it.

“FBI,” Liam said, glancing up at Theo and Mason.

“And I found this paper tucked into one of the books,” Theo added, “Someone’s still using this lab. But they’re cleaning up after themselves pretty thoroughly.”

“One of ours,” Mason frowned.

“We have to tell Scott,” Liam said, “Is there a bag for the glove?”

“We can’t take it,” Theo told him, “They can’t know we’ve been here.”

“This has evidence,” Liam pointed out, “We could know exactly who it is. We could dust for prints or see if we can do a DNA test – “

“I don’t want to sound like I’m agreeing with Raeken, but we don’t actually have a warrant for _any_ of this,” Mason pointed out.

Liam pouted, which, Theo had to admit, was a pretty strong argument. “That’s agreeing with Theo,” Liam said.

“Yeah, but I just really don’t like him, so – “

“Thanks,” Theo said dryly.

“Okay, fine,” Liam conceded, “We’ll tell Scott when we get back, though. We should probably clean up after ourselves too.”

They set to clearing the lab of all evidence that they had been there, looking it over once, twice, three times, before agreeing that they had probably gotten everything.

“Wait,” Liam said, crossing the room again, “We didn’t look through these doors.”

“That’s the morgue,” Theo told him, “There’s nothing in there.”

“There could be _bodies_ in there,” Liam pointed out, pushing his way through the door.

Mason looked after him, and then shrugged at Theo before following. For a minute, Theo stood rooted to the spot. He couldn’t go back in…He forced his legs to move to the doors to the morgue but froze again just outside. He could hear Liam and Mason speaking to each other, but he couldn’t make out what they were saying. Deep breath. He pushed his way inside and froze again. It looked exactly like it had before. The air was cool, raising goosebumps on his arms, and the stainless steel of the refrigerated doors were pristine. He hadn’t thought that he had moved at all, but suddenly he was in front of one of the doors, pulling the handle. Empty. He wasn’t sure what he had been expecting, but it was a relief. No sheet covered body, no iced toes poking out at him.

 _Her heart_ , his own voice echoed in his mind, _We need her heart_.

“Theo?” He blinked. Liam was moving towards him, looking from his face to the empty drawer. “Find anything?” he asked. Theo blinked again and realized that he was shivering. “Hey, you look cold. And really freaked out. Maybe we should go.”

Theo found himself nodding and following Liam and Mason back through to the office to return the card, and then outside where he all but drank the fresh air. This wasn’t like him. He internally shook himself and pulled out his keys, unlocking the truck.

“Are you good to drive?” Liam asked, pausing at the passenger door as Mason climbed into the back seat.

“I’m fine,” Theo assured him, crossing to the driver’s side.

“You sure?” Liam was leaning against the side of the truck watching Theo with scrutinizing concern.

Theo smiled and opened the driver’s side door. “I promise,” he told him.

 

They dropped Mason off at his apartment first.

“I can drop you at your house, and you can just give me directions to wherever I’m staying, if you want,” Theo offered, as he pulled away from Mason’s building.

“Huh?” Liam looked up from his phone. “Where are you staying?”

“That’s what I’m asking you,” Theo raised his eyebrows, trying not to smile, “My apartment isn’t in my radius.”

“Shit,” Liam swore under his breath.

“Did you not think of that?” Theo asked, allowing a smirk to open onto his face.

“It’s been really busy, okay?” Liam insisted.

“I guess I’m staying with you, then,” Theo said easily. Liam gaped at him. Theo glanced at him and then back at the road. “Do you have a better idea?”

His mouth snapped shut. “No,” he confessed, “But as long as we have your giant-ass truck, we might as well stop at the grocery store.”

Theo pulled in to the next one that he saw with any open parking. It was relatively late now, but cars were still crowding the streets outside of restaurants and bars.

“Sorry I didn’t think to get you a different place,” Liam said grudgingly as he pulled a cart in front of him and leaned heavily on it, pushing ahead into the produce section.

Theo side-eyed him. “Seriously?” he asked, picking up an avocado. Liam didn’t seem to mind, too distracted by whatever was going through his head as he leaned against the cart to complain about Theo doing his grocery shopping for him. He wondered for a second if this was what it was like when Liam had gone grocery shopping with Hayden. Then he thought about how their relationship had ended and decided that that probably hadn’t happened a lot. Then he banished the thought entirely.

“ _Yes_ , seriously,” Liam grunted, “They’re making us apologize to people in my anger management class. It’s supposed to be a step towards talking things out with people. You’re number three.”

“Number three?” Theo asked, mildly amused, as he bagged up the vegetables and moved on to the fruit.

“My third apology this week,” Liam clarified.

“Somehow, I find it hard to believe that you’ve only had to apologize three times this week,” Theo told him, tossing some berries and a bag of apples into the cart and moving on to the deli section. Liam followed distractedly with the cart.

“Well, I’m not going to waste time apologizing for _everything_ I do wrong,” Liam informed him hotly.

“And why should you?” Theo said agreeably, gently maneuvering the cart so that Liam would skip the chip aisle and head straight for the cereal and granola aisle.

Liam narrowed his eyes. “You’re a bad influence,” he informed him.

“Well, you know. Drug lord. Convict. I’m the boy your mother always warned you about,” Theo smirked over his shoulder at Liam, who didn’t seem amused.

They bickered their way across the grocery store, Liam only realizing, when they were picking up one single carton of ice cream, that they had passed several crucial points to his regular grocery shopping experience.

“Did we get chips?” he asked, looking into the cart, as Theo tossed the chocolate ice cream inside.

“No, we skipped that whole aisle,” Theo assured him, guiding him towards the check out.

“ _What_?” Liam asked, stunned, “Did we get Poptarts, at least?”

“No, we got real breakfast food instead,” Theo told him.

“Theo! We have to go back!”

Theo was already piling groceries onto the conveyer belt. “Go get them if you want them that bad,” he rolled his eyes.

Liam gaped in anger for a second, and then sprinted away.

“I don’t appreciate you treating me like a child,” he told Theo when he returned with a box of Poptarts, a bag of chips, and a sleeve of Oreos.

“I just figured that I’ll probably cook more than you, and you were distracted anyways, so…”

Liam was grumpy all the way back to the truck.

“I’m sorry, okay?” Theo said, turning to look at Liam before he started the car, “I’m not trying to take over, I’m just trying to help.”

“We both really suck at that, huh?” Liam smiled wryly.

“Helping or apologizing?” Theo asked, starting the car.

“Both,” Liam assured him.

Theo smiled. “Do you have parking at your place?”

“Yeah, usually there’s a spot – “

They turned the corner onto Liam’s street, where the parking seemed to be more crowded than usual.

“That’s not – “ Liam started to say as Theo pulled into an empty space.

“Liam, it says I can park wherever I want – “ but Liam was out the door already, groceries forgotten.

Theo turned the car off and managed to get all of the groceries in one trip. “Get your ass back here and help me!” he called after him, but Liam was racing up the steps to his apartment, trying the door without even unlocking it first.

“Unbelievable,” Theo shook his head, following Liam up the stairs. “Don’t mind me,” he shouted, “I’ll just carry _all_ the groceries –“

Liam had stopped dead in his tracks just inside the front door, staring at a young with long dark hair, and a sweet face that was currently twisted with worry and uncertainty.

“Hey, Liam,” she said.

“Hayden.”

 

***

 

He liked to water plants. He wasn’t sure why, but it was soothing. Most of the time, his mind was slow and sluggish. It was because of the drugs, probably, but his doctor told him that he needed to take them, so he did. And then he slept. Woke up. Watered his plants. Ate breakfast. Looked out the small window at the brick wall. And slept again. Sometimes it would occur to him to ask where he was. The cramped room didn’t feel like it was his apartment, but he wasn’t sure what his apartment looked like. He wasn’t sure of much, actually, but every time he started to realize it, it was time to take his drugs again and fall back to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I should probably have done this at the end of part 1 so I could keep you updated better, but I didn't think of it then, so I'm doing it now! If you want to follow me on tumblr for updates on this fic and future ones (and basically just a lot of posts about Teen Wolf), or just chat about Thiam or literally anything else, I'm [teen-wolf-af](https://teen-wolf-af.tumblr.com/) :) See you there! (Also let me know if that link works or not, cause I've never tried to do that before)


	2. Liam

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hayden is back! Sorry if you really like her and she comes across badly in this fic. Honestly, I think I change my mind about her every time I watch the show, but she's basically there to contrast Theo and make Liam's life harder in general.
> 
> I'm not sure I mentioned it last time, but I am planning on continuing with the same update schedule that I had for part 1, in other words, definitely every Thursday, and hopefully every Tuesday.
> 
> Again, drug use takes place after the *** if you don't feel like reading it, and it's not super necessary to the plot, so don't feel like you have to read it if you don't want to :)
> 
> Enjoy!

Liam would readily admit that he was a coward. He excused himself hurriedly, leaving Theo and Hayden in the hallway together, and locked himself in the bathroom, already dialing Mason’s phone number.

“Dude. Everything good? It hasn’t even been an hour – “

“Hayden’s in my house,” Liam whisper shouted into the phone, “I don’t know what to do! Mason, what do I do?”

“Wait, what? Hayden is there? Why?”

“I don’t know!” Liam said, “I don’t know! What do I – “

“Wait, did you even talk to her?” He could hear the heavy disapproval in Mason’s voice.

“What am I supposed to say?”

“Well it’s kind of sounding like _‘Hi, Hayden, what are you doing in my house’_ would be a good place to start,” Mason said reasonably.

Liam nodded, even though Mason couldn’t see him. “That’s a good idea.”

“Do you want me to come over?”

“No, that’s okay,” Liam sighed, “Theo’s here too because I forgot that his apartment is out of his radius, and – oh my god I left Theo and Hayden alone together! I’ll call you back!” He didn’t wait for Mason’s reply, but hung up and flung himself out of the bathroom. The hall was empty, but he heard voices coming from the kitchen, so he followed them, stopping in the doorway to witness the most passive-aggressive scene he could ever have imagined.

At first glance, Theo and Hayden were putting away groceries on opposite sides of the kitchen, Hayden at the fridge, and Theo at the cabinets. As he watched, he noticed the nasty tension of the room, the aggressive movements and poisonous side-eyes.

“You did it wrong,” Hayden was telling Theo, “The vegetables go in the top drawer.”

“They wouldn’t if Liam ate more vegetables,” Theo told her, his back to Liam as he shoved the Oreos in on their side next to the Pop-tarts, making Liam cringe. They were all going to fall out and get broken. “And I’m telling you, there isn’t going to be enough space this time.”

“Liam doesn’t know how to cook vegetables,” Hayden shot back, “I don’t know why you even forced him to buy them in the first place.”

“I didn’t _force_ him to do anything,” Theo told her, viciously shoving cans onto a shelf, “And Liam doesn’t have to cook them. _I_ will.”

Hayden spun to face Theo. “Well, maybe – “

“Maybe I can speak for myself,” Liam interrupted, still a little amazed that the scene was happening at all.

Hayden dropped the lettuce (thankfully still bagged) that she was holding and whipped around. Theo looked over his shoulder, smirked at Liam, and continued putting groceries away.

“And I _do_ know how to cook vegetables, by the way, I just choose not to,” he assured them, “Hayden, can I talk to you? Theo, don’t go anywhere.”

“Relax, Liam,” Theo swung the cabinet door shut and scooped the lettuce off the floor, “I’m just going to be making dinner.”

Liam frowned at him suspiciously. It was hard to tell when Theo was acting weird or just being himself. There was a lot of overlap.

Hayden followed him into the living room, watching him steadily.

“What are you doing here?” he asked.

“I missed you,” she blinked.

Liam felt like he had been punched in the gut, completely breathless. “ _You_ broke up with _me_ , remember?” he said, finally. He could hear Theo whistling in the kitchen, which was weirdly calming. It was almost like he was reassuring Liam that he wasn’t going to run off any time soon.

“I know, but…” She looked up at him through long dark lashes, and his heart hurt. He had almost _almost_ forgotten the deep ache that he felt when he thought of her. He had been so convinced it was true love. The real deal. Even now, he wasn’t sure when his mind had changed. “Look, I heard about Stiles, and I – “

“You didn’t even like Stiles,” Liam reminded her gently, even as the anger boiled inside of him, asking what right she had to talk to him about any of this. Didn’t she realize how important this was?

“Of course, I – “ she caught Liam’s eye and cut herself off. “My sister. Something happened to her. She can’t remember who she is.”

“And you think that has something to do with Stiles?” Liam questioned.

“I think it has something to do with a drug called the Ghost Serum.”

Liam stared at her. The whistling in the kitchen had stopped, but he could hear Theo chopping vegetables and knew that he was listening.

“How do you know about that?” he asked.

“I don’t know how she got into it, but it’s supposed to help you clear your mind. Maybe she thought it would help her sleep better. I don’t know. But it’s everywhere. Addiction is going around like wildfire, and the more she takes, the less she can remember.”

Liam stared at her. This might actually help them find Stiles. “Okay,” he said, trying to organize his thoughts, “Okay, I’m going to have to take you in to talk to Scott, and you’re going to have to tell Theo everything you just told me. Do you have somewhere to stay tonight?” he started back towards the kitchen, glancing over his shoulder to make sure that Hayden was following him. She stood where she was with a deep frown. “What?”

“You want me to tell _Theo Raeken_ everything?” she asked, “What is it with this guy? When we were together, you were practically obsessed with finding him, and now he puts away your groceries and cooks your dinner and you just have to tell him everything?”

“Not,” Liam said slowly, “That it matters, but yeah I kind of need to tell him about this. He’s my CI for a reason, and while he’s staying in my house, I really don’t mind him putting away the groceries that he bought. Or cooking them, for that matter.”

When they walked into the kitchen, Theo was pulling something out of the oven, the remnants of a smirk on his face. “Are you staying for dinner?” he asked Hayden innocently.

 

Liam got Hayden to tell Theo as much as she could about the Ghost Serum, which he nodded at and then mentally filed away. Dinner was an incredibly stressful mix of passive aggression and confidential topics that he and Theo could only really talk around in front of Hayden. After dinner, Liam washed the dishes while Hayden and Theo hung around the kitchen, staring each other down, which hardly cut the tension at all.

“So, uh. Hayden,” he tried, “Did you need a place to stay tonight or…”

“You were out for a long time,” she said defensively, “I thought I was just going to get some help and go home.”

“Okay, well, I’ll set up the couch for you. Uh…Theo?” Theo looked at him with raised eyebrows, not volunteering any ideas. Liam sighed. It was kind of his fault anyways. _Why_ didn’t he have a guest room? “You can either sleep on my bed or on the floor of my room. We’ll figure that out later.” He closed the dish washer and went to make up the couch for Hayden. She didn’t seem thrilled, but she put up with it, seeming to acknowledge, at least, that it wouldn’t be the best idea for her and Liam to share his bed.

“I remember Hayden,” Theo said thoughtfully, later that night as they stood in his tiny bathroom, getting ready for bed. “I don’t remember her being like that, though.”

“Like what?” Liam spat his toothpaste into the sink and moved aside so that Theo could run his toothbrush under the tap. The normalcy of it all was almost disturbing.

“She used to be nicer,” Theo said, jabbing the toothbrush into his mouth.

“You never actually _knew_ her,” Liam reminded him.

“Are you saying she wasn’t?” he asked around his toothbrush.

“No! I just meant that you didn’t know her then, and she didn’t know you. What would she have had to be mean to you about?”

Theo shrugged and continued brushing his teeth as Liam set up as comfortable a space on the floor of his bedroom as he could. It was all a little elementary-school-sleepover.

When Theo came out of the bathroom, he seemed prepared to pick the conversation back up, but took one look at the bedding on the floor and frowned.

“I’m not sleeping on that,” he said.

“Fine,” Liam rolled his eyes. It was about what he had expected, “I’ll sleep on it and you can sleep on my bed.”

Theo was watching him with a weird expression that Liam couldn’t really figure out. “That’s stupid,” he decided, “We can share.”

Liam was pretty sure that was a bad idea, but he was incredibly tired and couldn’t be bothered to figure out why. Exhaustion had been sneaking up on him all day, from getting up early to get Theo out of jail, to running from the office to Eichen House, where they had spend hours walking around and looking for evidence, only to realize that he hadn’t thought everything out as well as he thought he had, and then be smacked in the face with emotional turmoil the second he got home. To argue was one thing too many at this point, so he rolled his eyes, said “whatever”, and climbed into his side of the bed, turning off the light as he felt the other side of the mattress dip under Theo’s weight. He would think more later about the implications of sleeping in the same bed as his Criminal Consultant, the man he had arrested only months before, who he had been chasing since his first year at the FBI. For now, he drifted off to sleep, and it didn’t matter.

 

***

 

It wasn’t right. He was fairly confident in that. This guy wasn’t his doctor, but he really wanted him to keep taking the drug. For a while, he ate and slept and took his drugs and watered his plant, but this time the doctor was distracted, handing him the syringe and flipping through a stack of papers, letting him, as he had done since that time he had spent nearly an hour complaining about the bruises this so-called “doctor” had left on his arm, administer the drugs himself. The papers looked very official, but aside from that, he couldn’t see them well to figure out if they were patient files or something else entirely. This was the only opportunity he might have to keep his mind clear, though, he realized. So he took it, withdrawing the needle from his arm and quickly emptying the rest of the liquid into the plant at his elbow before the doctor could notice. It wasn’t enough, he could feel the haze settling back in already, but it was a start. _Next time_ , he thought, _next time I might remember something. I might think of something_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Domestic Thiam and Sharing a Bed. I think I have a problem, I just realized that every fic I've written so for has bed sharing (except part 1 of this series)...Honestly, I'm not even sorry :)


	3. Theo

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I started reading Airplanes by Captainmintyfresh (I don't usually read a pairing while I'm writing them, but I couldn't help myself) and it is so amazing but also just as distracting as I thought it would be (in the best possible way!), so please excuse any glaring errors, or let me know and I'll fix them :) (Also is it weird that it's the first Thiam fic I've read? I think I probably am supposed to have read a pairing before writing like 70k words on them, but...oh well)
> 
> On another note, you guys are all so lovely with your reading and kudos and comments! You're all the best, I just wanted you to know that :)
> 
> Enjoy!
> 
> PS. - the thing about skipping under the *** still stands - it's up to you if you want to read it or not :)

He woke up at six on the dot. The sun was just starting to come up, filling the room with a soft haze of grey light. Even so, it took Theo a minute to remember that he wasn’t in jail. He rubbed one foot subconsciously against his anklet and rolled onto his back, face coming very close to Liam’s, who was sprawled on his stomach, head facing Theo, back moving up and down with his rhythmic breathing.

He smiled. Maybe it was a little creepy to watch Liam sleep, but he couldn’t take his eyes away. There was a youthful innocence to Liam’s sleeping features that made Theo feel like everything would be okay. Like he could hope for more and he could wish for better. Like maybe there was a possibility that he wasn’t evil to the core. And in that moment, he actually believed it.

Liam would wake up at 6:30, and Theo couldn’t be staring at him then. He let himself watch the sunlight spread across Liam’s sleeping form for another second and then rolled out of the bed, nearly tripping over the bundle of blankets on the floor in his attempt at leaving the room noiselessly. Downstairs, Hayden was still asleep on the couch. He had less qualms about waking her up, except that he had no desire to interact with her. He wasn’t sure what it was, but something about her really bothered him. Aside from the way that she treated Liam, obviously. Not that he should probably be one to talk about treating people badly.

He slipped into the kitchen and heated up the stove, grabbing the carton of eggs and separating the egg whites of a few while cracking the rest into another bowl. Then he chopped a few peppers, mind already moving on to what Hayden had told him about the Ghost Serum. It was more or less what he had guessed already. There had been rumors before he was arrested about people taking it and ending up with severe amnesia. Even before he had gone to prison, the drug had been spreading with an almost supernatural speed. Theo had his fair share of experimental drugs on the market, but not even his best formula had come near the storm of addiction that the Ghost Serum caused.

It was a good idea, he thought. People wanted to clear their minds. Forget exes, make room for more information, just take a second not to be so overwhelmed. The suddenness with which the addiction seemed to take over would indicate that there were very few drawbacks and side-effects to begin with. The amount of people taking it who had never been in the drug market before was proof. He frowned and poured the egg mixture into the pan, moving on to start the coffee maker. But there was something else. People were going missing. Like Stiles. He knew why Stiles was missing – he knew too much. He was looking too far into something that Sebastien had yet to figure out.

He froze, omelet flipped under his spatula. Sebastien didn’t know everything about the Ghost Serum yet. He didn’t have total control. There was more than one manufacturer. Someone who was trying to figure out how to reproduce it and get it out into the public. Someone who maybe already had. And who didn’t care what it did to people. He shuffled the omelet onto a plate. Sebastien was ruthless, but he knew, at least, that killing off his customers was generally a bad idea. This person would be new to the game, reckless, but with an idea of how things worked.

He frowned and poured a cup of coffee, mixing in sugar and milk the way he had painstakingly memorized was Liam’s favorite in the years that they had been playing cat and mouse, and placed his breakfast on the kitchen table, just in time to hear the shower running.

“Is that for me?” Hayden asked, shuffling into the kitchen, hair perfectly tousled and eyes sleepy. Theo frowned, less that she was helping herself to Liam’s breakfast, and more that the second that Liam came down, he wasn’t sure how Liam would be able to keep himself from falling in love all over again.

Theo had kept just as close an eye on Liam as Liam had had on him from the moment that he had taken on his case. He had watched Liam and Hayden’s relationship grow and change and implode. They weren’t good for each other, objectively speaking. Neither one would back down or admit to being wrong. It was always more of a competition than cooperation. It was just how Liam and Hayden worked. They had been playful at first, then desperately romantic, and then a disaster. Hayden had left, but Theo had seen Liam’s pathetic downward spiral. Now that he had spent so much time with Liam, he wasn’t sure he wanted to watch it again. Plus he just didn’t like Hayden.

Liam came down, hair still damp, shirt sticking to his skin, while Theo was finishing the second omelet, egg white still waiting at the side of the stove. He poured himself a cup of coffee, blinking sleepily, and then peeked over Theo’s shoulder.

“Is that for me?” he asked hopefully.

Theo glanced back, face coming very close to Liam’s. He flipped the omelet onto a plate and handed it over.

“Oh,” Liam said, “Thanks.”

“I had some other ideas about the ghost serum,” Theo told him, dumping the egg-whites into the pan as Liam sat down across from Hayden at the table, “I guess I’ll tell you in our meeting with Scott.”

Liam looked at Hayden, as if only just remembering that she shouldn’t overhear confidential information. Theo rolled his eyes. “Yeah,” Liam agreed, “That’s probably a good idea.”

“I’m sorry,” Hayden said abruptly. Theo focused on his omelet. “I thought I was going to get some information on what’s happening to my sister.”

“That’s kind of up to Scott.” Liam’s voice sounded a bit sheepish, like he knew that Hayden wouldn’t like that answer.

“Liam – “

“Hayden, I get it. I do, but this is my _job_.”

“She’s my _sister_.” Theo could hear the desperation in her voice, and a part of himself commiserated with her. He hated to admit it, but Hayden wasn’t some sort of evil witch. She was just a scared girl who wanted to help her sister however she could.

“Okay, but a lot of people have sisters who are affected by this,” Liam said tactlessly.

Theo glanced up to see Hayden leaving the room, Liam looking after her with a confused expression. “Nice,” he said, sliding his omelet onto his plate and turning off the stove, “That was really smooth.”

“Shut up,” Liam grumbled, shoving a forkful of egg into his mouth.

Theo sat next to him and started in on his own breakfast. “She’s just trying to help her sister.”

“I _know,_ ” Liam stabbed his omelet viciously with his fork, “I thought you didn’t like her.”

“I don’t,” Theo said easily, “Doesn’t mean I don’t get where she’s coming from.”

 

Theo borrowed a sweater and a pair of pants from Liam after his shower, making him promise to take him by his loft at the very least to get some clothes later. He could feel Hayden watching him all the way to the office. Maybe she and Liam weren’t together anymore, but she was still a little protective of him. It was understandable, Theo supposed, with him sleeping in Liam’s bed and wearing his clothes and putting his groceries away. Even if it was totally platonic, Hayden was still seeing someone in the roles that she used to live.

Everyone but Mason was surprised to see Hayden, which Theo had expected, since he was pretty sure that Liam had called him in a panic when he had locked himself away in the bathroom last night. It took a few minutes to explain what exactly she was doing there, and Theo stood by and watched as Liam’s friends moved from curious to protective and mistrustful. They assembled in the conference room, Liam and Hayden, Scott and Malia, Lydia and Stiles’s dad, Mason. And Theo. Hayden told Scott about her sister’s sudden addiction and ensuing amnesia. Scott listened patiently and fairly, nodding and asking insightful questions. Then he had a frowning Mason take her to fill out some paperwork, and turned to Theo.

“There’s someone else who’s producing the Ghost Serum,” Theo said without preamble, “The addiction is spreading too rapidly and going too far for Sebastien to be the only supplier.”

“We also found evidence that someone is using the laboratories at the Dread Doctors’ old base outside the city,” Liam added, “If I had to guess, I would say that it’s the same person.”

“This isn’t a guessing game,” Stilinski reminded him, “This is a big operation that’s getting people killed.”

“Okay, but – “

“Do you have proof?” Scott asked reasonably, eyebrows raising.

“We found some papers – research on the Ghost Serum, it looked like,” Liam said quickly, “And a leather glove.”

“A leather glove?” Malia asked suspiciously.

“Yeah,” Liam grimaced, “Like the ones we wear at crime scenes.”

The room fell silent. The idea of an inside man had been thrown around since before Stiles disappeared, but the reality of it seemed to be hitting everyone harder now. Theo, who was used to people with no morals whatsoever, who double and triple and quadruple crossed, sat back and watched as Stilinski blew out a deep sigh, Scott rubbed the bridge of his nose, and Malia’s lips thinned. Lydia, he realized, was watching him closely. He wasn’t entirely sure why yet.

“Okay,” Scott said finally, “We need to keep this quiet. Like, _beyond_ quiet. I don’t think it’s a good idea to tell Hayden anything else. Is she leaving town soon, Liam?”

“I – “ Liam looked around at the rest of the people in the room. “I don’t know.”

“Okay,” Scott nodded, sounding resigned, “Well, it would be better if she went home, but I guess we can’t exactly force her. I just don’t want her involved in this, is that understood? We don’t need any more people on this case than necessary, especially not civilians.”

Theo took that to mean that she would only serve as a distraction to Liam, and suddenly found himself appreciating Scott a lot more.

“Understood,” Liam muttered.

Scott nodded. “I’ll start pulling agent files for my reviews and keep an eye out for anything suspicious. Malia, Mr. Stilinski, let me know if you need anything to help your search for Stiles. Raeken, do you have any more leads?”

“I have some people I can talk to,” Theo shrugged, “And I can start putting out feelers to see if anyone knows anything.” He glanced at Liam. “I’m going to need to go back to my old neighborhood, though.”

“That’s fine,” Liam nodded.

Theo looked around the table as Scott agreed and started wrapping up. Lydia was still watching him.

“I’m going to take care of a few things here and then we can go,” Liam told him. He nodded, waiting for everyone to leave the room except for Lydia, who crossed over to him casually.

“You’re wearing his clothes,” she said.

“He forgot to find me a place to stay,” Theo snorted.

She raised an eyebrow. “And you couldn’t stay in a hotel?”

Theo didn’t answer. Lydia continued to watch him carefully. “You know,” she said, “He was pretty upset when you went to jail.”

“Why’s that?” he asked, trying to stay calm. He didn’t know what about the statement made his heart race.

“I didn’t say it was _because_ you went to jail,” she reprimanded him.

“Your husband is missing,” he reminded her meanly, “Why do you care if I stay at Liam’s house?”

“Oh sweetie,” she smiled at him honeyed and condescending, “You’re not above it all. You have feelings just like the rest of us. Figure it out before it comes back to bite you in the ass.” She patted him lightly on the cheek.  It stung more than if she had actually slapped him.

 

Liam hadn’t convinced Hayden to leave yet, but he had been able to dissuade her from trying to tag along with him and Theo to Theo’s apartment, which Theo was endlessly thankful for. It was honestly bad enough having Liam with him when he met his contact, but it wasn’t really something that he could get around with his anklet.

“Why aren’t we meeting them at your apartment, again?” Liam complained, hood pulled up against the wind as they rounded the corner to the meeting place.

“Noah’s flighty,” Theo explained, “He doesn’t trust anyone.”

“I thought most people in your profession don’t trust each other,” Liam said.

“Not really,” Theo agreed, leaning against the wall near the alley, “But most of us know which meetings to take and which to avoid.”

“Not Noah?” Liam asked, following Theo’s lead in leaning against the wall next to him.

“He has a good reason not to trust anyone,” Theo said, shifting slightly closer to Liam to block the wind, only half realizing what he was doing. Maybe Lydia was right. He should probably look into this weird instinct he had to take care of Liam.

“Which I guess you’re not going to tell me,” Liam assumed.

“Nope,” Theo agreed, watching a figure appear out of an alley and move towards them. Liam twisted to see what he was looking at, but Theo waited, motionless.

“You’re out of jail?” Noah asked quickly when he caught up to them.

“For now,” Theo agreed, “Have you heard anything?”

“You think I’m going to tell you if I did?”

“You’re here,” he pointed out, “So yes.”

Noah frowned and looked around. “Okay, as far as I know, there are only two people capable of making Ghost Serum right now, and one of them is the Beast.”

“I knew that,” Theo pressed, “Who else?”

“He used to work with the Dread Doctors, that’s all I know.”

“His _name_ , Noah. Do you know it?”

Noah shrugged. “They call him the Soldier.” He looked at Liam, “He’s one of yours, gone bad.”

“FBI?” Liam asked.

Noah cringed. “Maybe don’t say that so loud. Or at all.”

“Okay, have you seen him?” Theo prompted, “What does he look like?”

“That’s really all I know,” Noah promised, “I swear.”

“What about Stiles?” Liam asked, “Have you heard anything about him?”

Noah looked between the two of them doubtfully.

“An agent disappeared a few weeks ago,” Theo clarified, “Is anyone kidnapping?”

“I’m not sure. I can –“ Noah’s head snapped up, looking across the street. Theo followed his gaze to see a window open on a building on the far side of the street where they had all been closed to the cold wind before.

Before Noah could even back out of the meeting, a bullet lodged itself in the wall just above their heads. Theo swore, grabbing Liam’s hand and darting around the corner into an alley, pulling him along behind. Noah had already vanished.

“What – “

“Move,” Theo shouted in his ear. Liam felt Theo’s hands at his back, pushing him along in front of himself to a fire escape.

“I thought – “

“Liam, I’m not dying for you,” Theo told him, propelling him towards the rickety iron ladder, “I like you, but not that much. Up.”

Liam flung himself up the fire escape, ducking down on the roof and reaching back for Theo, who grabbed his hand as he stepped onto the roof, pulling him across the top of the building to where a gap of about five feet separated the closely gathered buildings.

“Jump,” he instructed, not giving Liam the chance to slow down.

“Holy fuck!” Liam yelled, flinging himself onto the next building, “I can’t believe you actually do things like this!”

“Keep going,” Theo continued to push him along as soon as he had landed behind him. There were people yelling, and the fire escape behind them was rattling loudly, like an army was charging up it. Theo and Liam ran across the roof to another fire escape, climbing down as quickly and quietly as they could, before sprinting down another alley and across a busy street. Theo took Liam’s hand again, leading him into a small local grocery store, nodding at the cashier as they passed through to a door in the back that opened onto another alley.

“Now I understand how you would always just disappear if anyone ever tried to chase you,” Liam panted, as he followed Theo up the side of another building.

He snorted and crossed the roof, unlatching a hatch on the ground and dropping through the skylight of his loft.

“Okay,” Liam sighed, falling onto Theo’s bed as he grabbed a bag and started shoving clothes into it, “I think I get the point of the skylight now.”

That surprised a breathless laugh out of Theo, but he didn’t slow down, crossing the hall into his bathroom to grab a few more things.

“By the way,” Liam called after him. Theo looked over his shoulder when Liam didn’t finish the sentence immediately.

He went back into his room, where Liam was pushing himself up to sitting on his bed, trying not to get the dirt from his shoes onto the pristine white duvet.

“What?” Theo asked. He tossed the rest of his things into his bag and zipped it up.

“You like me?” Liam asked, sounding almost shy.

Theo looked up at him. He stood up and swung his bag onto his shoulder. “I don’t… _not_ like you,” he winced, wishing that had come out a little cooler.

Liam at him consideringly, and then put on a falsely argumentative expression, “Well…I don’t not like you too.”

“Great,” Theo rolled his eyes, ignoring the way his stomach seemed to suddenly fill with butterflies, “Gad we cleared that up. Now can we get out of here before whoever was shooting at us catches up?”

 

***

 

The plant was dying, which was bad news for multiple reasons. One: he liked the plant. It was the only other living thing he ever saw besides his “doctor”. Two: whatever he was injecting into his body was almost definitely not good for him. And three: his “doctor” was going to notice soon that the plant was dying for no reason and probably put two and two together. He had a feeling that wouldn’t be a good thing. On the bright side, while his memory didn’t seem to be coming back much (besides a vague feeling of love and a warm, pretty smile when he watered the plant – reason number four that he was sorry it was dying), he quickly discovered that, when he wasn’t so drugged up and half asleep, he was actually pretty crafty. He was regularly dialing back on the drugs that he was given if he could find a subtle way of doing it, and his thoughts were coming more and more clearly. He didn’t know if there was anyone to come looking for him besides that warm, pretty smile, but he had a feeling that, given enough time, he would find a way to escape.


	4. Malia

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heads up: I've been super busy this week and I will try my best to stay on schedule, but the next chapter may or may not be up on Thursday. I'll do my best, but no guarantees :) 
> 
> This chapter is mostly plot and not a whole ton of Thiam, but we do get a bit of outside perspective on them, which I always think is fun!
> 
> As usual, after *** is optional.
> 
> Enjoy!

****

It was dead end after dead end. Malia knew that Scott had been concerned about bringing Mr. Stilinski in, but he had actually been incredibly helpful in looking for Stiles. Not that it had come to anything.

“I just don’t get it,” she told him, “All of his files are wiped or edited, even the confidential FBI ones.”

Stilinski massaged his temples, elbows resting on the other side of Malia’s desk. “It’s got to be your inside man,” he sighed, “But even then, it wouldn’t be easy to do without drawing attention to himself.”

Malia groaned and collapsed back in her chair.

“It’s too bad that marshal left right away,” he lamented, “Finding people is basically her job description.”

Malia had to agree with that. Braeden was a force to be reckoned with, but she was on a manhunt across the country, and – “Oh!” she sat up suddenly, “Derek!”

“Hale?” Stilinski asked, confused, “I thought he was tracking Kate Argent across the continent.”

“Braeden said he caught her and was on his way home over a month ago,” Malia said quickly, grabbing her phone and scrolling through contacts, “If we’re lucky, maybe he’ll be between missions.”

“Aren’t you supposed to check with Scott first?” Stilinski asked carefully.

Malia froze. She probably should. Taking orders would always be hard for her. Mostly because she forgot that being with the FBI again meant that she had to ask permission for everything. “I probably should,” she admitted, deflating slightly.

A knock sounded loudly at her door and Liam and Theo were ushered in by Scott, who shut the door behind him. Malia’s normally large-feeling office was beginning to feel cramped.

“We were shot at,” Liam exclaimed immediately.

Stilinski raised his eyebrows.

“What did you do this time?” Malia asked.

“What?” Liam looked offended, “Why do you always assume it’s my fault?”

“You’re right,” she conceded, and looked instead at Raeken, who she probably should have accused first, but she didn’t like to talk to him. Period. Especially since Scott said she probably shouldn’t hit him in the office, and she had yet to see him outside of the office. “What did you do this time?”

He didn’t even have the grace to look affronted but smiled a little instead. “Someone knew we were digging for information and didn’t like it,” he said, rocking back on his heels, hands casually in the pockets of his pants. There was something wrong about this. Aside from the obvious of Raeken being out of jail.

“Did you get a look at them?” Scott asked.

“No,” Liam shook his head, “They were shooting from a second story window across the street.”

That was definitely setting off alarms in Malia’s head. Something wasn’t right here, but for once she wasn’t entirely sure it was Theo’s fault. Mostly because it had happened before. “East Street?” she asked Raeken, who nodded wordlessly. The others looked bewildered, but she was already ushering everyone except for Scott and Raeken out of her office, to a copious amount of protests. There were some things that she would never tell anyone in the FBI about. Scott, obviously, being an exception.

“The same thing happened to me when I was undercover,” she said quickly, “12 East Street, across from the convenience store. I was meeting a contact for information. There was no way that anyone could have known we were meeting.”

“Who was your contact?” Raeken asked evenly.

“Like I’m telling you,” she retorted.

“I need to know – “

“Guys!” Scott interrupted. He looked at Raeken. “You just need to know if it’s the same contact, right? If you both met the same person, then they could be the problem.”

Raeken nodded.

“So you tell me who your contact was,” Malia insisted.

Raeken looked annoyed but gave in almost too easily. “Noah Patrick.”

Scott looked at Malia, who shook her head. “Not the same,” she said, “Noah’s pretty new to the circuit. Who does he work for?”

“Sebastien. Very, _very_ indirectly,” Raeken crossed his arms, “I’m not sure they even know each other exist.”

“Your telling me he doesn’t know everybody who works for him?” Scott asked doubtfully.

“It’s a huge operation,” Raeken shrugged, “And Sebastien likes to delegate.”

“So maybe he’s the one who shot at you. Or had someone shoot at you,” Malia suggested, but Raeken was already shaking his head.

“I mean, it’s possible, but Noah wasn’t giving us information on the Beast and his operations. We already know most of it, actually.”

“So what _was_ he giving you information about?” Scott asked.

“Another distributor of the Ghost Serum,” Theo told them, dropping his voice, “He said they call him the Soldier. Apparently he’s one of yours.”

“You mean FBI?” Scott asked sagely.

Theo nodded.

Scott sighed. “Any idea who?”

“No, but we can look into it.” Scott nodded and Theo started to leave.

“Hey, Theo,” Scott said suddenly, “Keep an eye on Hayden okay? I don’t know that I like her showing up right when all of this is happening.”

Raeken raised his eyebrows. “You think she has something to do with this?”

“Not necessarily, but you can never be to careful, right?” Raeken watched Scott carefully for a moment before nodding and saying, “I will,” and then leaving Malia’s office.

“How can you trust him?” Malia rounded on Scott immediately, “He _shot_ me.”

“I _don’t_ trust him,” he immediately assured her, placing comforting hands on her shoulders, “But I don’t think he’ll turn on us.”

“Are you kidding?” Malia raised her eyebrows.

“Malia, he’s not helping us just because he wants to make the world a better place.”

“No shit,” she snorted. Then she looked closely at Scott. “Why _do_ you think he’s helping us?”

“Liam,” Scott said simply, looking earnestly into her eyes.

She actually laughed in his face this time. “ _Liam?”_

“He listens to him,” Scott said, like it was totally true and explained everything.

Malia laughed again, and Scott smiled, taking her more fully into his arms. “Watch them next time,” he kissed under her ear.

“Hey, I was thinking we should see if we can bring Derek in to help find Stiles,” she told him.

Scott slumped slightly in her arms, the way he always did when his best friend was mentioned and nobody was around to see. “We should,” he agreed, “Why didn’t I think of that?”

“Your best friend is missing, Scott,” she told him, “You can’t handle that alone. That’s why we need as much help as we can get.”

“Even Raeken?” he said wryly.

“Fine,” she kissed him, “Whatever. I’m calling Derek now.”

“Say hi for me,” he said, already on his way out the door, “I need to get going on those agent files.”

 

***

 

As soon as the doctor left, he staggered into the bathroom to throw up. It was hard to hide the symptoms of withdrawal, but so far he seemed to be doing okay. It helped that the doctor only ever came in for a few minutes to drug him and left immediately after. Supplies showed up whenever he woke up. He had tried to stay awake, but between the amount of the drug that he was till taking, and the exhaustion from the withdrawal, it was nearly impossible. At this point, at least, he was relatively sure that he wasn’t being kept as an experiment. This was definitely not his apartment either. He still couldn’t remember what it looked like, but he was sure this small space with the ugly grey carpet and white, impersonal walls wasn’t it. Most likely, he thought, he was being kept prisoner for some reason or other. Maybe the drug was to keep him from remembering. Remembering what, he had no idea.

He backed away from the toilet bowl and sat with his back to the cabinet under the sink. Knowing that he had to get out was enough of a start. He couldn’t waste time trying to figure out why he was here. That would have to come later. For now, he thought, wiping the cold sweat off of his feverish forehead, he had to find a way out. There was only one small window in the apartment, looking out onto a plain brick wall. He wasn’t sure if he could fit through it, but it would probably be worth trying. His head was swimming and his stomach still roiling. He needed to stop thinking so hard, just for a few minutes.

Instead, he turned towards his favorite thing to think about when he wasn’t working on his escape or his memory, although he supposed – _hoped_ that this was a memory. He knew she was incredibly important to him. There was a feeling of immense intelligence, a flash of fierce red hair, although, no. That didn’t seem right. It was strawberry blonde. He could never see her face, but he could sometimes conjure up the idea of a laugh, the curve of a smile, and he could, he thought, hear a sweet, loving voice saying his name. He wasn’t sure what that name was, though. And there was something more about her too. Not that she had ever not been the most. He had no doubt about that, but there was something else. He _needed_ to remember. It was of the utmost importance. The real reason he had to get out of here alive. Something to do with her. And something to do with his parents.

For now, he leaned his head back and inhaled deeply, the imaginary scent calming him.


	5. Theo

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did it! I was really hoping I would be able to get this chapter up today because there are so many parts of it that I love and I'm so excited for you to read it! Finally you're getting some answers :)
> 
> This will be the last chapter with the separate *** ending, by the way. No explicit drug use in this one, you might want to read it for plot ;)
> 
> Enjoy!
> 
> PS - I'm kind of stuck on chapter 7 right now, so there might only be one chapter next week, depending on if I can finish it or not.

“We need to find you a place to stay,” Liam told him.

“We have other things to worry about right now,” Theo assured him, “I’ll be fine.”

“Seriously?” Liam asked doubtfully.

“ _Yes,_ Liam,” Theo rolled his eyes, following him up the steps to his front door, “I can sleep on your couch for a few more nights. It’s fine. We have to find Stiles first.”

“Um…” Liam turned to Theo, back to the door, hand still on the doorknob, like a girl in some teen romance movie where she was waiting nervously to see if she would be kissed goodnight. And _where_ exactly that came from, Theo was never _ever_ going to think about. “About that…”

“You told Hayden she could stay,” Theo assumed flatly.

“I _implied_ that – “

“Whatever. Don’t keep her waiting,” he rolled his eyes, feeling his stomach drop for some strange reason. _Disappointment,_ his traitorous brain supplied. “Shut up,” he muttered, following Liam through the door.

“I didn’t say anything,” Liam argued.

“Not you. And by the way, we’re – what’s that smell?”

“Liam!” Hayden appeared in the doorway to the kitchen, smiling, “I got take out from the Indian place we used to go to. Oh. Hey, Theo. Um. I didn’t know if you were coming back or not…I got extra Naan?”

She looked genuinely distressed that she hadn’t gotten any food for Theo, but really, he thought, had she seriously expected him to find a place in the zero minutes of downtime they had had that day?

“I can cook – “

“You can have some of mine, Theo,” Liam said, somewhat aggressively, passing Hayden and poking his head into the bag. “Thanks, Hayden,” he added as an afterthought.

Theo ducked around her, trying, for once, not to get in the middle of things. He wasn’t too worried about Liam falling back in love with Hayden anymore, but he had no idea why he was suddenly acting this way. He didn’t like not knowing things.

It wasn’t as weird as it probably should have been, splitting a container of Indian food onto two plates, still, he remembered, wearing Liam’s clothes and avoiding Hayden’s judgmental looks.

“I left my bag in the truck,” Theo remembered as they ate in a tense silence. Liam and Hayden both looked at him blankly, but the tension remained thick in the air. “…I’ll get it after dinner, I guess.”

“Liam still hasn’t found you a place to stay yet?” Hayden asked innocently.

“We’ve been pretty busy – “ Theo started.

“It’s fine,” Liam interrupted, “This house is practically a hotel now anyways.”

Theo tried to eat faster. _God,_ this was uncomfortable. He had never had much of a break-up before. To be honest, he had never had much of a relationship before. Running a drug cartel didn’t leave much time for romance, but Theo had never particularly minded. And if this was how it ended, then he _definitely_ didn’t want it.

He stood up a few minutes later and dropped his plate in the dishwasher. “I’ll be right back,” he announced, “Not running away, I promise.” And let himself out the front door.

It wasn’t far to the truck, but the sun had gone down almost an hour ago, and the wind was getting colder as the days slid into autumn. He got his bag out of the car and headed back to Liam’s house, not hearing the yelling until he was already halfway up the steps.

“I never said that!” Liam’s voice boomed.

“Well, it’s clear enough to me!” Hayden shouted back, “You never even said you were into guys!”

“I’m not – I mean, I am, but it doesn’t matter! It’s not like that! Can’t you just leave him alone?”

“He’s a convicted criminal, Liam! And you’re being a better boyfriend to him than you ever were to me!”

“It’s not fucking _like_ that! Stop assuming you know everything about me!”

Theo was frozen by the door. He knew Hayden didn’t like him. The feeling was mutual, but if she _actually_ thought that his and Liam’s relationship was like that…

“I can’t believe you,” she told Liam, voice lower now, but still infuriated.

Theo slipped in while the ceasefire lasted. Liam took one look at him and announced that he was going to bed, pounding angrily up the stairs. Hayden didn’t look at him but disappeared into the living room. Theo dropped his bag and cleaned up the kitchen, turning off the lights and locking the front door before following Liam upstairs, trying to ignore the fact that it was only 8:30.

“Hey,” he said, when Liam came back into his room after brushing his teeth, slamming the door violently behind him.

“What?” Liam glared.

“You’re mad.”

“No shit,” Liam snarled.

“You should punch me.”

Liam broke out of his rage for a moment of confusion. “What?”

“I said you should p- _fuck!_ ” Liam hasn’t hesitated. It hadn’t been that hard, his nose might not even be broken this time, but it hurt like hell.

“Are you okay?” Liam asked guiltily, shaking his hand out, “I mean…you _did_ tell me to punch you.”

“Yeah,” Theo straightened from where he had been doubled over and checked his hand for blood. There was a bit, but it wasn’t gushing. “Feel better?”

“Kind of,” Liam admitted, “It’s not broken, is it?”

“Nah,” Theo waved him off and grabbed a couple of tissues from the bedside table. “I’m sorry things are so shitty with Hayden.”

He wasn’t sure if it was the right thing to say, but Liam visibly deflated, whatever aggression that hadn’t been burned off by punching Theo dissipated, leaving him looking lost.

“I don’t even know if things were ever even good with Hayden, you know?” he said, dropping onto his bed, “Maybe I was just making it all up.”

Theo listened in amazement as Liam opened up to him _again_. How many times had he sworn he would never trust him? How many times had he given in and done it anyways? It was incredible, and he had a feeling, even then, that he was done disappointing Liam.

“I doubt that,” he sat on the edge of the bed, “You must have both liked each other at some point, but people change, you know?”

“Oh, sure. Just like you’ve changed so much?” He could tell that Liam didn’t really believe that. He didn’t believe it either.

Theo smirked. “I’m a bad example.”

“Whatever,” Liam rolled his eyes, “Thanks for, you know…”he waved his hand in a vague gesture, “Taking one for the team.”

“I would say any time, but I feel like you might take advantage of that,” Theo replied, smirk turning into a real smile.

Liam smiled back. “Probably,” he admitted.

Theo rolled his eyes and moved away to get ready for bed. When he came back, Liam was already under the covers tapping away at his phone.

“I can’t believe you’re going to sleep at like nine o’clock,” Theo complained, climbing into bed next to him.

“You are too,” Liam pointed out, looking over at him.

“Yeah, well. Apparently I have to do everything that you do, so…”

“You could always go back to prison,” Liam offered, but there was nothing harsh about it. Instead, he had a slight, teasing smile and a look in his eyes that was almost fond.

Theo smiled back. “I’ll pass,” he said. And honestly, he was starting to mind less and less that he was becoming Liam’s shadow. Everywhere that he went with him was better than the places he had been alone. Sure, it was confusing and annoying and aggravating, but Theo could deal with all off that because this was Liam. Because…this was Liam. And Theo – he looked sideways at Liam, who was scrolling through his phone again. Shit, Theo really _really_ liked Liam.

 

Theo woke up in a cold sweat, his heart pounding. The image of his sister was so vivid, it felt like she was really there, crawling towards him, ripping his heart out of his chest. He sat up and ran his hands over his face, through his hair, breathing out a sigh to try and control his breath. The room was dark, and the air was cold on his feverish skin. Last night, he had hated trying to sleep with the tracking anklet on, but now the weight of it grounded him in the present. He didn’t have to kill his sister and she wasn’t back from the dead, ripping his heart out of his chest with her bare hands.

There was a soft noise behind him and the blankets pulled across his legs. “Theo?” Liam’s voice asked, soft with sleep.

He looked over his shoulder at Liam, feeling his heart melt into the shadowy image of him wrapped in his blankets, repositioned to be able to look at Theo without having to sit up. He looked soft and comfortable and painfully innocent, and Theo didn’t know how he could ever manage to deserve him.

“Go back to sleep,” he told him quietly, refraining from the urge to touch.

“What time is it?” Liam asked, strangely determined for how _not_ awake he seemed.

Theo glanced at the clock on the night stand. “3:12.”

“Why are you awake?” Liam pressed.

“Just a dream,” Theo rubbed his chest subconsciously, “Go back to sleep.”

“Oh.” Liam fell quiet, and Theo was sure he had actually fallen back asleep until he lay down again, turning towards Liam, and saw the flash of dull light reflected in Liam’s eyes. “What was it about?” he whispered.

“I killed my sister,” Theo replied quietly, hoping that Liam would be appalled enough to leave it alone, “I had a dream that she came back and killed me.”

Liam didn’t say anything for a minute, but Theo felt the covers around him shift and watched Liam watch him through the dark.

“Is that why you were scared of the morgue?” he asked finally, “Was her body in the morgue at Eichen House?”

“That’s – yeah,” Theo shifted, surprised, “Maybe I’ll tell you about it someday.” That in itself told him just how far he had fallen without even realizing it. Months ago, he would never have even thought about mentioning Tara to someone.

“Okay,” Liam agreed softly.

“Are you seriously not going to call me out for killing my own sister?” Theo wondered, unable to help himself.

“Maybe if I thought you weren’t already feeling bad about it,” Liam said tentatively, “Maybe I don’t want to feel any worse today either.”

Theo looked at him properly and then lay down again, on his back this time so that he wouldn’t have to look Liam in the face quite so closely.

“Okay,” Theo repeated, and they fell into a comfortable silence, laying side by side in the dark.

 

“Can you hurry up?” Liam banged on the door to the bathroom, “What the hell are you doing in there anyways?”

Theo rolled his eyes and set the razor down carefully before pulling the door open. Liam stared at his face and then his bare torso and then his face again, mouth gaping.

“What are you doing?” he asked, sounding slightly put-out.

Theo picked the razor back up and leaned over the sink. “Shaving, what does it look like?”

“But – you had a beard.”

Theo wasn’t sure why all of this seemed to be surprising news to Liam.

 “This may come as a surprise to you, but they don’t tend to give you sharp things like razors in prison,” he reminded him.

“I know, but – “

“What?” Theo finished shaving and rinsed his face, grabbing a bottle of moisturizer

“You look really young without your beard,” Liam said.

Theo looked at him. “Is that a good thing or a bad thing?”

Liam shifted uncomfortably. “Um.”

“I’m done in here, anyways,” he said, letting Liam off easy. He pulled his shirt over his head and moved to leave. Liam was still standing in the doorway, staring. “Unless you’ve restricted my radius to this bathroom?”

Liam shook his head quickly, and stepped out of the way, walking straight into the wall.

Theo snorted in laughter. “And I’m thinking we should probably stop for coffee on the way to the office,” he called over his shoulder.

It was weird. Liam was acting weird. Last night had been weird. He even had these weird freaking butterflies in his stomach that he had no idea what to do with. He had a feeling it all came back to what Lydia had said the other day, but. Well, he was usually better at reading people. Right now, he couldn’t even read himself.

Hayden left after breakfast to go back to her sister, but Theo was sure she wouldn’t be gone for long. It felt nice to be sure about something again.

They got their coffee, Theo picking up an extra one for Lydia, and headed to the office. Liam went straight to Scott’s office for their morning meeting, which sounded much too Preschool-esque for Theo, who continued down the hall the Stiles and Lydia’s office instead. Lydia was at her computer for once, clicking purposefully and sipping discontentedly at a bottle of water. He knocked lightly on the doorframe.

“Can I help you?” she asked, spinning around and eyeing the two coffee cups in his hands.

He held one out as a peace offering. “Can I come in?”

“Only if that’s coffee,” she said airily. Theo smirked at the hunger in her eyes and crossed to her desk, handing her the perfectly doctored beverage, and then pulling up Stiles’s chair.

“Oh my god,” she sighed, “I haven’t had coffee in so long. Scott’s worse than Stiles, you know? I think he’s trying to make up for him being – but, I think sometimes he goes a little overboard with the mothering.”

Theo nodded sympathetically. “I figured you could probably use some caffeine.”

“I’m only supposed to have one cup of coffee a day, max,” she said sadly, taking another sip, “You got this perfectly, by the way. Congratulations.” He smiled. “Now what did you want to talk to me about?”

Theo glanced casually at the door and then looked back at Lydia. “What you said yesterday, what exactly did you mean?”

She smiled, looking more entertained than he had seen her since before he had gone to jail. “I’m pretty sure you know that,” she told him, “Don’t you?”

“Lydia, just – “ he tried not to sound like he was pleading, “I don’t get it, I really don’t. I mean, I look at him, and I feel…”

“You feel?” Lydia prompted.

“I don’t know _what_ I feel,” he admitted.

Lydia hummed, which was distinctly _not_ a satisfying answer. “You feel _something_ , though,” she said, finally. It wasn’t a question.

“Like I’m nervous, or – happy – or…I don’t know. None of it makes sense.”

She took another sip of coffee, looking pensive. “Maybe you should – “

“Guys!” Liam appeared in the doorway, “Scott’s office. We think he found something.”

Lydia was on her feet and out of the room before Theo could even process it. “Theo, let’s go!” Liam waved him over, and he followed.

Everyone was crammed into Scott’s office now: Scott, Lydia, Malia, Stiles’s father, Mason, Liam. Theo. He closed the door behind him and looked over Liam’s shoulder at the file on Scott’s desk.

“Garrett Douglas,” Scott said, “Violent Crimes. He did an undercover stint and passed his psych eval with 100 percent accuracy on the way back into the FBI.”

“Who was the psychiatrist who evaluated him?” Lydia asked eagerly.

Scott checked the file. “Morell.”

“Morell doesn’t cut corners,” Malia said, “She did mine too, and I barely passed.”

Somehow, Theo was less surprised than Malia seemed to be.

“Exactly,” Scott said, “Nobody gets 100 percent on the psych eval.”

“You think he tampered with it?” Stilinski asked.

“I think he’s been messing with a lot more than that. His file was brought to my attention because he’s been spending a lot of time out of the office recently. Nobody knows where he goes or what he does,” Scott said.

“You think he’s been messing with Stiles’s stuff? That he’s the one using the lab at Eichen House?” Theo asked.

“Mason?” Scott raised his eyebrows in Mason’s direction.

“I was able to discreetly track Douglas’s history last night, even the stuff he covered up,” Mason explained, “He’s way better at covering his tracks in real life than online. I found enough to connect him to enough of the information that went missing from Stiles’s files to get a warrant.”

“So we find Douglas and he leads us to Stiles?” Stilinski asked.

“I can do you one better,” Mason told him, a smile slowly growing on his face.

 

***

 

He would probably fit through the window, he decided, but it would be a long way down. Maybe he could tie his bedsheets together and attach it to something inside. Old-fashioned Rapunzel it. That would have to wait for later, though. The doctor was already running late, judging by his very poor sense of time, so putting any escape plans into action would have to wait. If one good thing came out of waiting, though, it was that his mind had even more time to de-fog. In fact, by the time he heard the footsteps outside of the door, he had enough presence of mind to realize that they were louder, heavier, and faster than usual. There was no yelling, and only one pair of feet, as far as he could tell, but something was happening. The doorknob rattled, which was stupid because it was always locked, but the doctor always had the key. There was aloud thump against the door and he jumped to his feet, backing towards the window. Maybe now _would_ be a good time to escape…

The wood by the lock splintered and the door swung in with a huge amount of force, apparently kicked in by a surly, muscly guy with intense eyebrows but a stubble line that frankly was making him jealous. He doubted he could get an edge that straight even if his hands _weren’t_ constantly shaking.

Something like relief, familiarity, recognition, passed the man’s face, and he stepped into the room with a deep sigh. “Stiles,” he said, “Are you okay?”

He looked around. As far as he knew, he and this guy were the only ones in the room. What the hell was a “Stiles” anyways? Maybe it was the plant. He glanced at the plant and then looked back at the intruder.

“I watered it,” he assured him, jerking his thumb over his shoulder at the plant.

The man snorted and shook his head, looking almost fond. “Of course you did,” he smiled. It was a nice smile. For some reason, that kind of surprised him.

“Uh…who are you anyways?” he asked, when the man made no move to take his beloved plant.

“What?” the man looked totally taken aback, “Are you joking?”

He frowned. “No?” He was pretty sure he could think of a better joke than asking somebody who they were if he put his mind to it.

“It’s me,” the man said, frowning heavily now, “Derek. Hale. Are you –“ he spotted the locked biohazard bin near the door and broke that open too, looking inside. When he looked back up, his expression was dark. “We have to go. Now.”


	6. Scott

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First things first: I have been crazy busy, so I may or may not have the next chapter up on Thursday (I haven't even finished writing it yet!), but I'm going to try. If it's not up on Thursday, it will definitely be either Tuesday or Thursday next week!
> 
> How crazy is it that this fic is almost halfway done? I don't even know what I'll do when its over. Wait. Yes I do. I'll write more Thiam :D
> 
> Okay, I'm done, I promise! Enjoy!

Scott's heart was heavy. It had been ever since Stiles had disappeared, and honestly, it had just been getting heavier and heavier since. Finding out about Douglas a major breakthrough, and he was seriously going to give Mason a huge raise for not only getting them enough for a warrant, but for actually finding out where Stiles was too. Now, though, was when he hated his job with all his heart. From the moment that he had found the connection, it had taken 24 hours to be allowed to assemble a team to go in and get Stiles while simultaneously taking down Douglas. It could have been even worse as an internal affair, but his connections had managed to push things along. Stiles’s dad had been disallowed from going on the basis of not being an FBI agent, which he was still giving someone hell about upstairs, but the rest of them were grimly suiting up and loading into vans. Scott sat in the back of one, Lydia sliding in next to him and slipping her hand into his. He had thought about asking whether it was such a good idea for her to come with them in her condition, but then he thought of Stiles. They were brothers, and if anyone had asked Scott to stay back, he would have given them hell. Lydia was Stiles’s wife, the mother of his unborn child, and way better at giving people hell than Scott was.

The ride out of the city seemed interminable. Malia kept glancing back at him in the rearview mirror, and every time, he would give her the bravest smile he could muster.

“How do you do it?” Lydia asked softly.

“Do what?” he asked.

“Stiles means just as much to you as he does to me. I’m literally sick with worry right now. How are you still leading everyone? How are you still giving us hope?”

He thought about something his mom had said to him once. “Because they need to be led, and that’s what a leader does. When there’s nothing else to give, a leader gives hope.”

“Your mom’s a smart lady,” she said knowingly, smiling at him and squeezing his hand tightly as the van slowed to a stop outside a sprawling mansion with an iron gate declaring the place to be Eichen House. He couldn’t help but agree with her.

“Liam, Theo, Malia,” he said, hopping out of the van as everyone gathered around, “In through the back. There’s an ambulance dock by the morgue, right?”

“Yeah,” Mason confirmed. Liam looked nervously at Theo.

“Is that alright?” Scott asked, “I’m thinking that Douglas is going to be closer to the labs, so if we can intercept him there –“

“It’s fine,” Theo said, squaring his shoulders. Malia looked questioningly at Scott, who nodded, gave him a kiss on the cheek and then led the others away.

“Alright,” Scott took a deep breath, trying not to worry too much about Malia on top of everything else. She could take care of herself. He was still worried. “Let’s go find Stiles.”

“That’s not Douglas’s car,” Mason said, pointing down the street to a black sports car sitting in the shade of a tree, like it could ever be inconspicuous.

“Derek’s already here,” Lydia looked at Scott.

“He _is_ good at his job,” Scott shrugged, leading them up the steps towards the building.

They weren’t even halfway to the front door when it opened and two very familiar figures stepped out.

“Stiles?” Scott asked breathlessly as he took in the sight of his best friend for the first time in weeks. He was far away, but there was something off about the way he held himself. It was unsure, and he didn’t come running down the steps to meet them.

Instead, he looked at Derek and said, “Wait. Am _I_ Stiles?”

Scott aborted the step he had been taking forwards and stared. “What are you talking about – Derek?”

“I’ll fill you in later. We need to get out of here. Where are the others?” Derek said quickly.

“Going to intercept Douglas, why –“

“They won’t find him,” Derek shook his head. “Get them out of there. Tell them to drop the supplies at the office and meet us at his place.” He nodded in Stiles’s direction.

Scott had been vaguely aware of Lydia standing still at his side, but now he looked at her, realizing that she was completely frozen, mouth open slightly, tears pouring silently down her cheeks as she stared at Stiles. She wasn’t rushing towards him, but she didn’t dare look away. As if thinking that maybe if she didn’t draw attention to herself then she would never have to suffer the disappointment of her own husband not even recognizing her.

“Okay,” Scott said quickly, “Meet us there.”

Derek beckoned for Stiles to follow, and they all went back out to the street, Stiles following Derek, glancing curiously at Lydia as he passed. She stared after them as Stiles slid into the passenger seat of the shiny black car. Scott took her wrist, gently leading her back to the van where Mason was already climbing into the back, on the phone with Liam.

He wasn’t sure what to think on the way back into the city. He definitely wasn’t sure what to say. Lydia continued to cry silently, not bothering to wipe away her tears, even as her mascara made dark trails down her cheeks. They had been so close, so ready to have Stiles back, that they hadn’t even thought of what sort of a state he would be in. It was devastating.

“Hey, Mason,” Scott said, “If I drop Lydia and me off at her apartment, do you think you could take the van back to the office?”

“Of course,” Mason said, glancing at Lydia, “Want me to send Stilinski along too?”

“Yeah – oh, and bring Corey. And find my mom,” he parked the car and turned to look over the seat at Mason. “You are getting a massive pay raise after this, I swear,” he assured him.

Mason smiled and shook his head. “It’s not about the money, man,” he replied.

“I know,” Scott said earnestly, “But you earned it.” He slid out of the car as Derek parked behind them. Mason took his place, muttering something to Lydia, who nodded and wiped her eyes before getting out of the passenger seat, slamming the door closed so that Mason could pull away from the curb.

“What did he say?” Scott asked.

“That it’s going to be okay,” she gave him a sad smile. Scott wished he had the guts to confirm it. Instead, he returned her smile and followed her into the building, Derek and Stiles at their heels.

Lydia wiped her face when she thought that Stiles couldn’t see and let them into their apartment. Scott tried not to look at how Stiles examined his own home in fascination.

“There are a lot of plants here,” he observed in a quiet voice.

“You take good care of them,” Lydia told him in a wavering voice, eyes shining again.

Stiles looked directly at her – really looked at her – for the first time since the had walked out of Eichen behind Derek. “I know you,” he said suddenly.

Lydia smiled widely and then bit her lip like she wasn’t ready to let herself do that yet.

“Who are you?” he asked, voice full of awe and wonder. It would have been terrible if not for that tone of voice. Scott looked to Lydia for her reaction.

“Lydia,” she sniffed, still smiling, “I’m your wife.”

Stiles’s face broke out into a huge smile. “I knew it!” he grinned, sounding painfully like the Stiles they knew. The one who knew them back.

“Scott,” Derek said quietly, pulling him aside as Stiles and Lydia smiled shyly at each other and talked about things that they both already knew. About how Stiles knew her smile, how he didn’t know if anyone would come for him, but then he remembered that smile and _knew_ somebody would. About how he had cared for a plant…and why was she crying?

“What happened back there?” Scott asked, “What’s wrong with him?”

“He’s been on a heavy dose of the Ghost Serum for a while. I don’t even know how he’s functional right now – “

“I’ve been weaning myself off of it,” Stiles jumped into the conversation, “The drug that doctor guy was giving me. He let me self-administer, so if he looked away, I would put the rest of it into the plant.”

“He let you self-administer?” Scott frowned.

“Apparently I complained too much about how bad he was at it,” he shrugged.

Derek looked at Scott. “It’s definitely Stiles,” he offered.

Scott grinned and shook his head. “I’m Scott,” he told Stiles, “Your best friend.”

“Your brother,” Lydia corrected.

Stiles smiled at him, a bit confused. “Not actually,” Scott informed him, “We’re just really close.”

“Do I have siblings?” Stiles asked suddenly.

“No,” Scott smiled wryly, “But you still got me.”


	7. Theo

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a reminder that I know very little about most of what I'm writing about, so if you see something that doesn't make sense, feel free to let me know :)
> 
> Also, wow, I am totally having a feeling of "how did this fic ever get to this point???" today. Like, this used to be Black Diamond. Just think about that for a second. Idk what happened...That said, if anyone happens to read or re-read Black Diamond before this fic is finished, feel free to let me know if you think they match up or not. I'm definitely going to have to go back and look that one over to make sure this series is actually a series... (Is that a weird thing to ask? Idk but I'm going to say it anyways :D )
> 
> Enjoy!

Stiles hadn’t been able to provide much insight on his research or what had happened to him. He told them multiple times that it was already much better than when he had been totally under the influence of the ghost serum – now, at least, he could remember things minute to minute – but this wasn’t particularly reassuring to anyone else. Theo had to give the group credit for deciding to let Stiles recover at home, though. The hospital would be an iffy place as it was with all of the people who were probably after Stiles right now, but being surrounded by reminders of his past and friends like Melissa and Corey, who had been enlisted as caretakers, not to mention his dad and Lydia, could only help him to remember.

Derek had warned them very seriously that they were in the middle of a turf war between two major drug producers (the reason that he had hurried their escape from Eichen House, where, no doubt, Sebastien had been about to try to overtake Douglas). Scott had rubbed the bridge of his nose and nodded. He knew it was a dangerous place to be, but he still had a job to do. He couldn’t back away from danger.

 

It was dark out by the time they left Stiles and Lydia’s apartment to head back to the office, and even then, most of the group was still there. Mason disappeared into Stiles’s office with Corey right behind him to do something complicated on Stiles’s computer, and Liam was on his phone at his desk to the head of internal affairs. Theo watched him swing back and forth in his chair as he spoke, eyes wandering around the room.

He didn’t know what to think when he looked at Liam. Maybe he just associated positive things with him because he had gotten Theo out of jail (even if he had been the one to put him there in the first place). But it was strange. He could be thoroughly pissed at Liam, beyond confused by him, feeling sad and out of sorts, but he looked at Liam and he couldn’t help but feel a flutter of happiness. If nothing else, it was a feeling. Liam made Theo _feel_ something, and that in itself was new.

Liam caught him staring as he wrapped up the conversation, and Theo looked away before he could stop himself.

“What?” Liam asked.

“Huh?”

“Why were you looking at me like that?”

“Like what? I wasn’t looking at you,” Theo snapped.

Liam made a face and started to say something, but they were interrupted by Corey calling to them from the upper level. “I guess Mason found something,” he said instead.

Theo followed him up to Stiles’s office, where Mason looked up and waved them over to the computer.

“I thought maybe I could follow the disappearance of some of Stiles’s information to an IP address to track down Douglas,” he said clicking around and typing in code as if anyone else could follow along, “And I tracked it to his work computer and a laptop. The laptop locator is turned off, so neither of them really help us, but I also found something else.” He clicked around some more and looked up at them expectantly.

“Which is?” Liam prompted.

“I can’t trace an IP address for some of the cover up work. Particularly the research on the Ghost Serum,” Mason explained.

“So what does _that_ mean?” Corey asked, leaning over the back of his chair.

“Not only are there two Ghost Serum producers, but there are two people hacking into Stiles’s account,” Theo guessed.

Mason nodded in something that seemed eerily close to approval. “And one of them is significantly better at it than the other.”

“You meant the Beast?” Liam asked, looking from face to face, “I mean, if there are two producers and two hackers, wouldn’t they be the same two people?”

“No,” Theo shook his head, “Sebastien’s not a hacker. I can see him wanting to cover up any existence of the Ghost Serum, but I don’t know how he would do that, unless –“ He met Mason’s eyes accidentally, but they seemed to be thinking the same thing.

“Unless?” Liam prompted.

“Unless _he_ has someone on the inside too,” Mason continued Theo’s train of thought, “It would be significantly easier to hack Stiles from another FBI account – probably the only reason Douglas could even do it – but it would still be hard to hide the IP that well…”

“But not impossible?” Corey asked.

“No,” Mason bit at his thumbnail, staring at the computer screen, “Not impossible.”

“So what you’re saying is that there are _two_ people inside the FBI who are working for drug rings,” Liam clarified. He looked at Theo. “No other red flags came up when Scott went through the employee files.”

“So they’re better at hiding their tracks in real life too,” Theo shrugged, “We just have to dig deeper.”

“Why do I feel like that translates to _do something illegal_?” Liam asked warily.

“Seriously? Have I ever done anything illegal since you took me out of jail?” Theo raised his eyebrows in disbelief.

“Yeah, you parked in a fire lane the other day,” Liam argued.

“For, like, two seconds because you wouldn’t wait for me to find an actual spot before you ran in to get coffee,” Theo reminded him.

Liam rolled his eyes with an exaggerated sigh and Corey snorted in an attempt to hide his laughter. Mason was watching them with a confused expression on his face.

“Sorry,” Corey said quickly.

“Why don’t we leave it here for now and get dinner,” Mason suggested, shutting the computer down, “It’s been a long day.”

 

Theo felt slightly out of place at the diner, sitting across from Corey and next to Liam, tucked into the corner of the booth. It looked like a double date, but it felt like he was intruding. It felt like Mason was judging him. That was new too, the sense of _opinion pending_ that Mason gave off when he looked at Theo now. It had almost always been pure dislike from him because of what Theo had done to his best friend and what he had thought Theo had done to his boyfriend. _Well,_ Theo supposed, _I guess I did have a hand in it after all._

The tension wasn’t so bad anymore, but he could tell that this was Liam and Mason’s haunt. All of the waitstaff seemed to know the two of them well and even knew Corey’s name. Liam and Mason didn’t order, but food was brought out to them anyways, and all three of them chatted to each other like their world wasn’t currently upside down and inside out. It was too normal. He hadn’t done as much normal as he had with Liam since before he was ten years old.

“Normal people don’t do this,” Corey assured him as though he could read his mind,  Liam and Mason talking happily at their sides.

“How –“ Theo stared at him.

“Do you really not know how much people talk about you?” Corey smiled at him, eyebrows raised.

Theoretically, he knew he should. Most crime bosses don’t come into being the head of their business before they’re teenagers, but Theo had been groomed for it from childhood. _That_ certainly wasn’t normal, and almost definitely word would have gotten around about it.

“Anyways,” Corey continued, “Normal people go to different restaurants every once in a while.”

“Hey!” Mason interrupted, “I thought you liked it here!”

“Not every day, Mase,” Corey smiled sheepishly.

Mason returned an identical smile. “Sorry.”

Theo watched them flirt shyly with each other for a while as though they hadn’t been dating for months. As though Corey wasn’t living with Mason under the pretext of having someone to help him through the ordeal that was withdrawal. They were sweet and protective of each other. Totally at ease in any situation as long as the other was nearby. Theo was jealous, which he realized was crazy, because he had never wanted a relationship, but here in this diner that Liam loved so much, it didn’t seem like such a bad thing to want anymore. Not that Liam would _ever_ want it too. Not with Theo.

He glanced at Liam to see him looking back.

“What are you thinking about?” Liam asked, folding his straw wrapper over and over into an accordion.

“Nothing,” Theo said quickly.

“You sure?” he asked, dropping the tiny bit of paper onto the table.

“Just how disgustingly unhealthy it is that you’re eating a double bacon cheeseburger with fries and a milkshake,” Theo smirked at him.

Liam looked down at his food. “This is a regular meal,” he told Theo, “People eat this all the time.”

“Not your best argument,” Theo informed him, stealing a fry before he could stop himself, “Also the burger already came with fries, and then you got fries as a side.”

Liam stared at him as he popped the french fry into his mouth. “You’re awfully concerned with eating well for someone who sells drugs,” he replied.

Theo frowned. “Ran a drug cartel,” he corrected, stealing another fry, “And I’ve seen how bad it is for you. I also know that eating badly can be worse.”

Liam continued to gape at him.

“You’re probably fine,” Theo assured him, “As long as you don’t eat like this every day.”

“Stop stealing my fries!” Liam smacked his hand away from his plate grumpily.

Theo shrugged and turned back to his own meal.

“ _What_?” he heard Liam say and looked up to see Mason and Corey watching them.

“Nothing,” Mason said a little too quickly, as Corey tried to hide a smile, “I just realized something. It’s nothing.”

“Whatever,” Liam rolled his eyes and dug back in to his meal.

Theo continued to watch Mason and Corey, who were not-so-subtly throwing glances across the table at them and made a mental note to corner one of them and figure it out sooner than later.

Before long, the four of them were parting ways outside the restaurant, Mason and Corey going back to their place and Theo following Liam back to his.

“I feel bad for Scott,” Liam said as they walked down the artificially lit main street back towards Liam’s house.

“Why?” Theo humored him, half listening as he watched their feet move in perfect time with each other.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Liam shrug. “His best friend can’t remember who he is, but he still has like a thousand things to do. He’s been depressed ever since Stiles went missing, but he’s never been able to, like, _deal_ with it, you know? Too many things keep happening. And now Stiles is back, but can’t remember that they’re friends.”

“Maybe being too busy to deal with it is good thing,” Theo suggested, “Maybe he needed to take his mind off of it.”

“You can’t ignore your emotions forever,” Liam reminded him.

“You have literally punched me in the face so many times,” Theo smiled, unable to help himself, “Anyways, shouldn’t we be more worried about Lydia?”

Liam shook his head. “Stiles and Lydia are in love, but Scott and Stiles are deeper than that. They’re brothers. Like platonic soulmates. They have that forever kind of love,” he grinned, “It’s how I feel about Mason. My heart _hearts_ him.”

Theo snorted with laughter. “Please stop talking,” he said.

“No, but seriously. That was one of the problems with Hayden,” Liam admitted, “She never really liked that Mason’s more important to me than she was. Like, what would you do if we were dating and I told you that I needed to have dinner with Mason every week night?”

Theo stared at him for a long time before realizing that Liam was probably expecting a response. “Uh…I guess if I really wanted to spend time with you, I would ask if I could tag along sometimes,” he said finally, trying not to think about how he had just gone to dinner on a week night with Liam and Mason and Mason’s boyfriend. _It doesn’t mean anything,_ he told himself. “Or just keep you to myself on the weekends.” He tried hard not to blush but felt entirely unsuccessful. He had been the kingpin of one of the biggest drug cartels on the west coast, but somehow Liam made him feel like a teenager again. A normal one. The kind he never got to be.

He glanced at Liam, who was _looking_ at him again. This time smiling. “I kind of thought you were going to blow me off with a stupid answer,” Liam glanced at their feet, still moving in sync, and then back up to Theo, “But that was actually surprisingly nice.”

“Yeah, well. Don’t get used to it,” Theo told him, bumping their shoulders together. He hadn’t even realized how close they had been walking.

Liam snorted. “And _there’s_ the Theo we all know.”

They turned onto Liam’s street.

“How long do you think it will take Hayden to come back?” Theo asked, “Now that we have a way to see how someone quits the ghost serum.”

Liam groaned. “Not long enough,” he said, climbing up the front steps, “I get that she wants her sister to be okay, but does she have to stay at my house? We broke up!”

“Huh,” Theo said in interest, leaning against the side of the building as Liam unlocked the front door.

“What?” Liam glanced at him.

“Nothing. Just – you would have loved for her to come back a couple of months ago. You’ve changed a lot,” he said, watching Liam carefully.

“I guess,” Liam shrugged, opening the door. “I have other things to occupy my mind now.”

“Not being totally pitiful is a good look on you,” Theo assured him.

“Thanks,” Liam replied dryly. “You need anything for the couch tonight?”

No matter how hard he tried to pretend it didn’t, Theo’s heart sank a little. “I know where to find everything,” he assured Liam.

 

Theo stood by his previous opinion: Liam’s couch sucked. It was just a little too short and kind of lumpy, with imprints in two of the cushions, presumably where Liam and Mason always sat. Or maybe from where Liam and Hayden used to sit together. Theo felt his nose wrinkle at the idea. _Okay,_ he thought, _I officially hate this couch_. At least he wasn’t sleeping in Liam’s room, getting shunted around the tiny bathroom and listening to Liam jabber away while he got ready for bed. He didn’t have to hear the soft sounds he made right before he fell asleep or feel the blankets slide over him as Liam reached up to turn out the light. He didn’t have to wake up to sunlight spilling through the curtains from where they didn’t close all the way when Liam yanked them together the night before, and see how dark his blonde eyelashes looked against his cheeks or worm away from cuddling arms to leave Liam to wake up with some dignity intact.

He missed it already.


	8. Corey

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Surprise! 
> 
> Here, have an extra chapter while I get myself back on track :) (there will be another one tomorrow too, don't worry!)
> 
> Enjoy :D

Stiles was a pretty easy patient. Corey had known him before, but mostly through Mason and never that well. Certainly not as well as Scott or Lydia or his dad, or even Melissa. There was a vague look of uncertainty in Stiles’s eyes whenever one of the others were around. Like he knew he was supposed to know them, but he just couldn’t make himself remember. Like he wanted to remember and felt terrible that he couldn’t.

When it was just Corey and Stiles, though, when the others were at work and Melissa was sleeping or getting Stilinski out of the apartment for a few hours, he could see something in Stiles relax.

“How well do I know you?” Stiles had asked warily, the first time they had been left alone together.

“Not that well,” Corey had admitted, “You work pretty closely with Mason, and he’s my boyfriend, but I’m a nurse. I’m not with the FBI. And we weren’t dating long when you disappeared.”

Stiles had nodded thoughtfully and that was when most of the walls had come down. The last ones came down when Corey began unpacking a syringe and a vial of cloudy white liquid, which had been hidden from the others in an inside pocket of his coat.

“Why do you have that?” Stiles had asked curiously.

Corey smiled at him. “Because no matter how much of a saint Mason thinks I am, even I can’t quit cold turkey. And I’m betting you’re going through some pretty bad withdrawal right now,” he explained, filling the syringe and tapping any air bubbles out of it.

“ _Yes_ ,” Stiles had sighed, “Thank god.”

And so they had an easy understanding. Corey brought Ghost Serum and made Stiles work at remembering people until he had to play buffer. They weaned him off slowly but surely, noting the effects with clinical efficiency. Corey insisted on telling Melissa that Stiles was still using, even though Stiles was steadfastly against it at first. As expected, she was completely understanding, which made Stiles feel terrible, and Corey had to make up an excuse to get her to leave sooner. He was pretty sure she saw right through it, but she played along easily enough.

“It’s like,” Stiles sighed through a drug-induced haze (although much less of one than he had had in the past few days), “I don’t even _want_ to take it anymore.”

“Did you ever want to take it in the first place?” Corey asked.

“I don’t remember,” Stiles admitted, not flinching like he usually did when he had to admit that around the others. He was quiet for another few minutes and then asked, “Do you think I’ll ever get my memory back?”

“You already are,” Corey told him, “You remembered Lydia.”

“I don’t think I ever forgot her in the first place,” he reflected, “She was always kind of in the back of my mind.”

Corey smiled at that. “It will come back,” he said, feeling the full force of his own conviction behind the words.

Stiles sighed, his eyes darting around the apartment that he couldn’t recognize and then back to Corey. “What about you and Mason, then?” he asked, abruptly changing the subject, “How did that happen?”

Corey leaned back in his chair and recited his story of meeting Mason, of dying and coming back to life, almost convinced that he was in heaven when he saw Mason’s face again. Of how Mason had taken Corey back to his apartment when he was discharged from the hospital and how Corey just hadn’t ever left, and Mason hadn’t ever asked him to.

“Wow,” Stiles looked amused, “So this Theo guy was your dealer and then…Liam, right? Okay, Liam arrested him and brought him back to work for the FBI and now they’re dating?”

Corey frowned thoughtfully. “I don’t _think_ they’re dating,” he said, running through the past few times he had been in the same room with those two in his head. Maybe he was wrong.

“Seriously?” Stiles asked, “They look like lost puppies if I ever see one without the other.”

“Theo has to wear a tracking anklet and Liam’s his handler,” Corey offered.

Stiles laughed loudly at that, just as the door was opening to Melissa, Lydia, and Mason. “Wow,” he breathed, “I don’t know why that’s so funny to me. Do I not like Theo?”

“No,” Mason beamed, “You really, really don’t.”

Stiles grinned widely, accepting an enthusiastic hug from Lydia.

“You’re remembering!” She squealed.

“Maybe I am,” he laughed into her hair, shooting Corey a grateful smile as he grabbed his jacket and met Mason at the door.

Corey turned to Melissa just before he left and said, “Maybe you should get Scott and Stilinski over here. I think he’s in the right frame of mind to remember things.”

She nodded, giving him a quick hug, and he and Mason left the three of them alone.

“He seems like he’s doing better,” Mason said.

“He’s almost ready to go completely off the GS,” Corey agreed, “I’m hoping he’ll start regaining memories soon, but past impressions are a good start. He thought Liam and Theo were together.”

Mason snorted, reaching for his hand and pulling him closer as they jogged down the stairs, threading their fingers together. “He’ll be so mad he thought that when he gets his memory back. Although…”

“You think they like each other,” Corey inferred.

“I don’t know,” Mason admitted, “Maybe.”

“If it helps, I would agree with you,” Corey told him, looking to his side to smile broadly back at him.

“Yeah, but you’re my boyfriend,” Mason reminded him, “You might be a little biased.”

Corey hummed, pulling Mason to a stop. “Yeah, but you don’t hear me complaining.”

Mason smiled and kissed him long enough to be more than sweet, but short enough not to be considered indecent. Corey chased after it with another light kiss to his lips.

“Let’s go home,” Mason suggested. Corey couldn’t think of anything he would rather do.

 

“I mean,” Mason said, running a sleepy hand up and down Corey’s back. “Theo’s just way different than he used to be, you know? Especially when he’s around Liam.”

Corey groaned into his chest. “Do you really need to talk about this _right_ after we have sex?”

“You brought it up,” Mason reminded him playfully.

“Yeah, like three hours ago,” Corey smiled, pushing himself up to give Mason a kiss and then settling back onto his chest. “What about Liam?”

“I don’t know,” Mason admitted, “Liam’s kind of acting different too, but maybe it’s just all the Hayden stuff.”

“I thought you said he got over her faster than you thought he would,” he tried to frown, but Mason’s hand was running through his hair now, scratching at his scalp like he was a cat, which he would complain he wasn’t, but he had a feeling he was going to fall asleep before he got around to it.

“He did,” Mason agreed, “But – “ His phone vibrated loudly on the night stand and his hand stilled in Corey’s hair.

“Who is it?” he asked sleepily.

Mason shifted underneath him as he reached for his phone. “Liam,” he replied after a minute, “Do you mind – “

“Go for it,” Corey yawned, “I’m probably just going to fall asleep right here.”

Mason laughed softly, fingers resuming their magic dance across his scalp as he answered the phone. Corey closed his eyes and listened to the sound of Mason’s voice. He really loved him. Everything about him. He felt a smile curl onto his lips at the thought. He loved Mason.

“Hey,” Mason’s voice said quietly above him. He could feel it vibrate through his chest under his ear.

He could also hear Liam’s panicked answer. “Mason, Hayden’s back,” Liam was saying in a hushed but urgent tone. Corey laughed quietly, contentedly. He was going to tell him, he decided. When he was done on the phone, obviously. But he wanted Mason to know.

“Please tell me you’re not hiding from her in your bathroom again,” Mason sighed. Corey laughed again, this time burying his face into his stomach to muffle the sound and hide his wide smile.

He didn’t hear Liam’s response this time, but Mason said, “Dude, then tell her that…Okay. Let me know how it goes. See you tomorrow.”

Corey heard his phone drop back onto the night stand and propped his chin on Mason’s chest so that he could look at him properly.

“Is this a weird time to say that I love you?” he asked easily. His heart was going fast, but he felt calm and sure. It didn’t really matter what Mason would answer. Corey would feel the same either way.

“Not if I love you too,” Mason replied, without even a second of hesitation as he hauled him up so that they could seal the words with a kiss.


	9. Theo

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I absolutely don't say it enough, but thank you so much to every single one of you for reading and leaving kudos and comments and things! You are all honestly my inspiration to keep this crazy, crazy fic going, and I'm so happy that you have somehow stuck with it! Thank you <3
> 
> Enjoy!

Theo was annoyed. It had taken less than three days after finding Stiles for Hayden to show up on Liam’s doorstep again. He had thought that Liam would be angry when Hayden came back. He even selfishly hoped that he might send her away. Maybe even slam the door in her face and then make Theo play video games with him or go to the gym with him or even just sit on the couch together and act like they were watching a movie while Liam really spent the who time venting. Any of those situations would have been fine. He would have even been fine with Liam using Theo to piss Hayden off. Especially if it meant Hayden took over the couch and Theo got…but no. Liam had given him that look a few minutes after Hayden arrived wanting to talk to Liam that said _leave us alone please so that we can talk and I can make more questionable life-decisions_. A look that was far too close to puppy dog eyes for Theo to be able to resist melting a little and totally caving. Excusing himself to the gym down the street (which he had insisted on Liam recognizing as within his radius), he wondered how it had come to this. One day he was realizing that Liam made him have feelings, and the next he was doing whatever Liam said, just because he asked him to and Theo couldn’t resist his stupid, pretty face.

Hayden was gone when he got back, but Liam was in an annoyingly good mood, telling Theo that Hayden had a hotel room, and then not telling him much else about the conversation at all. Maybe it wouldn’t have mattered if she wasn’t at Liam’s house every day anyways, giggling with him, talking about things that Theo knew nothing about. Normal things.

So, he slept on the couch and put up with Hayden. And started to look for a place of his own in earnest. It wasn’t that he didn’t like living with Liam – actually, he probably liked it a little more than was good for him, but that was only part of the problem. Theo needed to take a step back. He needed to not let thoughts about Liam dominate his every waking second. And he needed to get the hell away from this Hayden woman before he murdered her.

“What are you doing?” Lydia asked, when he slipped into her office and closed the door behind him.

“Hiding,” he told her.

She rolled her eyes. “From what?”

“Hayden. She’s driving me crazy,” Theo replied.

“Short drive,” Lydia mused, turning back to her computer.

Theo stared at her.

“What?” she asked without looking up.

“You used to be scared of me,” he said. He wasn’t pouting. Definitely not.

“Sweetie, I was never scared of you,” she snorted

“Uh- _huh_ ,” Theo crossed his arms, unconvinced.

“Really,” she turned to look at him, “Especially not since you came and told me that you want to write Liam gooey Valentines and bake him chocolate chip cookies.”

He scowled. “I never said that,” he told her. He refused to look over his shoulder to make sure that nobody else was in hearing distance.

“You want to snuggle with him and make babies!” she sing-songed, face lit up in a beautiful smile. Theo would have been furious, if only he wasn’t so relieved to see her truly smiling again.

“Are you _teasing_ me, Lydia Martin?” he asked, amused.

“I’m happy, okay,” she informed him cheerfully, “Sue me.”

“Don’t tempt me,” Theo muttered.

“Well what’s your issue?” she asked as he sat in Stiles’s chair and rolled over to sit in front of her computer screen with her.

“Help me find a place to live that’s actually inside my radius,” he said. It wasn’t a demand. That would never fly with Lydia.

“Why?” she asked, fingers already flying across the keyboard, “I thought you liked living with Liam.” She glanced at him. “You’re wearing his clothes again.”

“Yeah, well, I only grabbed like three outfits and apparently he never does the wash,” Theo complained.

“And you love him and you want to snuggle and have his – “

“Lydia!” She was nothing like his sister and yet somehow exactly the same.

“Okay, I’m looking,” she smiled. He watched over her shoulder as she clicked through apartments listings. “So, are you going to talk to me about why you suddenly don’t want to live with Liam?”

“Do I have to?” he asked, already knowing the answer.

“Do you want me to tell people why you’re hiding out here instead?” she asked sweetly.

He looked at her. “Are you blackmailing me?”

“Yes.”

“Into talking about my feelings?”

“ _Yes,_ Theo.”

“I don’t think I can just cohabitate with him anymore,” Theo found himself admitting, “I don’t know. Maybe if I’m not around him all the time I won’t feel…this way.” He ended lamely.

“Oh honey, I tried that for years. It doesn’t work,” Lydia assured him.

“I know,” he said, more defeated than annoyed, if he was honest, “But he and Hayden are getting along now and – “

Lydia snorted. “Yeah, no. They’re not getting back together. Ever.”

“Because you won’t let them?” Theo raised a dubious eyebrow.

“No, because neither of them actually _want_ to be together. Hayden’s using Liam and he knows it,” she explained. Theo stared at the screen, trying to process this information as she scrolled too quickly through the listings.

“It still doesn’t mean he’s ever going to…to feel the same way,” he said finally, “About me.”

“God, you’re pathetic,” she sighed, “How did they let you run a drug ring again?”

“I killed my sister,” he reminded her flatly.

Lydia hummed in vague agreement, finally staying on the listing for an apartment for more than a second. “What about this one?”

“Seriously?” Theo looked at her, “I didn’t actually expect you to drop what you were doing and help me find an apartment.”

“I was bored,” she shrugged, “So what do you think?”

They made note of a few addresses with phone numbers for Theo to inquire about before stumbling across a building that Theo recognized as distinctly _not_ being within his radius.

“I know that place,” he said suddenly, pointing at the screen.

“It’s not in your radius,” Lydia said doubtfully.

“No, it’s were Liam and I were shot at,” he frowned, “Is Malia here?”

“Malia? Yeah, she should be, why?”

“Can you get her in here?” he asked urgently.

“Yeah,” she frowned at him, calling Malia quickly from the office phone.

 

“That’s the building,” Malia said to Theo, when he showed her.

“They’re renting out a room,” he told her, “On the second floor.”

“Where the shooter was,” Malia agreed, “Get Liam and meet me at the elevators in five minutes.”

She swung out of the room in the direction of Scott’s office, and Liam stared after her.

“You should go,” Lydia advised him, “She’ll leave without you.”

“Yeah,” he agreed, taking the paper she handed him with the addresses and phone numbers and stuffing it in his pocket, “Thanks.”

She nodded and he was on his way out, only pausing for a second when he caught sight of Liam and Hayden sitting at Liam’s desk, talking.

“We have to go,” he told him shortly, as he walked past his desk.

Liam looked up. “What? Where?”

“Malia and I found a lead. We’re leaving in two minutes with or without you,” he said. He should probably be handling this better. There was no reason for him to be mad at Liam. Liam had done literally nothing wrong, but Theo supposed he was just annoyed in general.

“I’ll come with you,” Hayden volunteered, getting to her feet.

“No, you won’t,” Theo told her.

“I can help – “

“No, you can’t. This is a classified FBI case. You’re not FBI, in case you’ve forgotten,” he said.

“Look,” Hayden said heatedly, “Just because you think I’m stealing Liam back from you – “

“Two minutes,” Theo told Liam abruptly, and walked as quickly as he could without attracting more attention (which, admittedly, would have been difficult to do, since most of the office was watching them with undisguised interest) towards the elevators.

Malia and Liam met him a minute or so later, Hayden nowhere in sight.

“Sorry,” Liam said, as they filed into the elevator.

“Don’t be,” Theo replied. It wasn’t like it was his fault, honestly.

“No, I should have stood up to her. I can’t…I’m not good at standing up to her,” Liam muttered.

“It’s okay,” Theo sighed. He could feel Liam looking at him, but kept his eyes fixed on the steadily decreasing number over the door.

The elevator was quiet for another minute before dinging onto the ground floor.

“I don’t get it,” Malia muttered under her breath, leaving the elevator as soon as the doors opened.

 

The apartment for rent, from what they could tell, was the one next to where the shooter had been.

“Who lives next door?” Malia asked the landlord.

“The neighbors are all quiet and friendly,” he assured them, “Nobody has parties or watches tv too loudly or – “

“Yeah,” she pulled out her badge and showed it to him. Theo frowned. That was a risky move in this neighborhood, but she probably already knew that. “Who lives next door?”

“He’s home now, if you want to talk to him,” he shrugged, seeming perfectly indifferent to the very official badge in front of him.

Malia and Liam exchanged looks and then nodded, following the landlord back out into the hallway. He knocked on the next door, and Theo saw Liam’s hand slide up to his hip holster. Theo could be crafty when he wanted – he rarely used guns – but he wished he had something more now. He had the nearly irrepressible urge to push Liam behind him and use his own body as a shield, which was…new.

He had almost expected to recognize the person who opened the door, but he didn’t. The guy looked pretty normal, but that didn’t necessarily mean anything.

“FBI,” Malia flashed her badge, “We have a few questions.”

The man was less surprised than Theo expected him to be, and even invited them inside, which in itself was suspicious. Theo looked around the apartment as they walked in, but that seemed normal enough too.

He didn’t realize that Liam had put himself half a step in front of him the entire way until he went to peek into another room and found Liam right at his side.

“What are you doing?” he hissed.

“You aren’t carrying a weapon or wearing a vest,” Liam whispered back, “You don’t know what’s in there.”

Theo stared at him, uncomprehending. Why would Liam risk his life for Theo, even in a theoretical capacity? “Well you’re getting in the way,” he snapped, not having any other way to express himself that wouldn’t probably end with him getting punched in the face.

“Fine,” Liam shot back, “Get yourself killed, see if I care.” He returned to Malia who looked supremely annoyed, but Theo didn’t want to be bothered with either of them right now. He did a quick sweep of the room and moved on to the next.

“I’ll tell you how to find him,” the guy was saying, when he joined them again, “With you showing up, I’ll probably be killed either way.” He didn’t seem particularly bothered by this.

“We can put you in a witness protection program,” Liam offered. Malia wrinkled her nose in distaste.

“I’m good,” the guy smiled. There was something Theo didn’t like in that smile.

“Liam,” he said.

Liam ignored him. He probably deserved that. Now, however, was not the time to let his little crush get in the way of a very important, very dangerous something that was currently sitting in the same room as them.

“Liam, I need to talk to you,” Theo sighed, “Please?”

Liam’s eyes snapped over to him, and he crossed the room again, leaving Malia to roll her eyes and get the location out of their witness.

“What?” he asked in a low voice.

“Bomb,” Theo said simply, placing a hand on Liam’s waist to keep him from backing away as he spoke quietly into his ear.

Liam pulled back just enough to look at him in shock. “Seriously?” he whispered, “Where?”

“Under the coffee table. He’ll trigger it before we leave.”

They both looked at Malia, sitting on the sofa by the coffee table.

“What do we do?” Liam asked, “Pretend something came up? Make our excuses and leave.”

“No,” Theo said, “He’ll trigger it before we get out of the building.”

Liam looked thoughtful. “Is it manually triggered?”

Theo shrugged.

“Seriously?” Liam hissed.

“How am I supposed to know?” he asked.

“How – because you saw it! I don’t even see anything!”

“It’s in his face,” Theo explained.

“What, the bomb?” Liam looked seriously confused.

“No, the – you’re an idiot,” Theo sighed.

Liam looked ready to argue and then took a few deep breaths before changing his mind. “Fine, okay. What do we do, then?”

Theo looked around the room again. “I have an idea.”

“What is it?” Liam asked quickly.

“You’re going to hate it,” Theo assured him.

“Not a fucking surprise,” Liam grunted, “What is it?”

He punched Liam square in the face and pulled the gun from his hip holster, pointing it at Malia. “Give him your weapon,” he gestured to the other guy.

“Damnit Raeken!” she said through gritted teeth, passing him her gun.

“Don’t follow us, or he’ll set off the bomb under the coffee table,” he instructed, waving their witness out the door. He followed behind, purposefully not looking at Liam, who was still curled on the floor, bleeding.

They both tucked the guns in their back waistbands so as not to alert anyone.

“I almost thought you were working for the FBI for a second there,” he said over his shoulder.

“Yeah, I’m a great actor,” Theo seethed, “Let’s take this to Douglas.”

“To Douglas?” the guy asked.

“You don’t think he wants to know all about the FBI agents who are after him?” he rolled his eyes, “I won’t let him kill you.”

He snorted.

“You think I don’t have anything over Douglas?” he sneered.

“Uh. No,” the guy said quickly, “No. He’s by the docks, though. We’re going to have to get a cab or something if we don’t want to walk all the way across the warehouse district.”

“Great,” Theo said, pulling his gun and pistol-whipping him across the back of the head, knocking him out.

“Liam!” he shouted up to the windows above him.

Liam came stumbling down the stairs two at a time, clutching his bleeding face. He stopped in the doorway, staring at Theo. “You didn’t run away,” he said, seeming to forget that he had been mad.

“No, I didn’t,” Theo smirked, “Please tell me Malia’s calling bomb control.”

“Yeah,” Liam said, still staring, “You – you’re right, I fucking hated that plan.” He frowned deeply. “Never do something like that again.” He came the rest of the way outside to arrest the unconscious man.

“Douglas is near the docks,” Theo said helpfully.

“Sometimes I really hate you, you know,” Liam admitted, but Theo grinned. For some reason, it sounded like something completely different to his ears.

“Hate you too,” his smile grew as Liam smiled back at him.

“Hey, assholes!” Malia shouted out the window above them, “Somebody better be calling Scott with an amazing explanation!”


	10. Stiles

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, this is short and kind of sad and has no Thiam, but here you go!
> 
> Just note that this chapter takes place at some point during the next chapter, so chapter 11 will pick up where chapter 9 left off, and this chapter takes place within the time frame of chapter 11. I hope that's not too confusing.
> 
> Also, there is mention of Stiles's mom and what happened to her (which is basically the same as in canon), and this chapter isn't super necessary to the plot, so if it's too sad, you don't have to read it.
> 
> Enjoy!

It was disconcerting. Stiles felt like he was starting to get to know his friends and family, but there was no way to tell if it was because he was starting to remember things or if it was because he was spending so much time with them and listening to their stories over and over, absorbing the familiarity through some sort of osmosis. It was the difference between really knowing them and only recognizing them, and it was frustrating as hell.

He lay in the dark, staring silently at the ceiling as Lydia’s soft breaths lulled him into a sense of ease. He hadn’t been sure how he was supposed to treat her when they were first left alone together, but when he had offered to sleep on the couch, she had stiffened, told him not to be an idiot, and insisted that he get himself ready for bed before she did it for him. There was a reason he loved her.

And he had no doubt that he loved her with his whole heart and that she loved him back. And this thing taking up the physical space between them, the growing child that stretched her stomach so that she had to lay on her side, facing Stiles, with their fingers interlaced to be able to sleep comfortably – he loved that too. It still seemed important to him to remember something – something about his parents. Something that his dad wouldn’t talk to him about. He knew it had to do with his mom, he had a feeling she was dead, but what it had to do with his child, his tiny, living child that Lydia was carrying, he didn’t know.

There was a quiet noise and Lydia shifted. “Stiles?” she asked softly.

“Mm?”

“Why are you still awake?”

“I’m just thinking,” he said, “I couldn’t sleep.”

Her fingers tightened around his, her thumb brushing over the back of his hand. “Trying to remember?”

“Trying to remember my mom,” he admitted in a whisper. He wasn’t sure why, but it made him sad to say it. Like with Theo, the feeling had left an imprint, but the details escaped him. “My dad – “ He swallowed. It was difficult, for some reason, to put into words. “He won’t talk to me about her. I don’t think he can.”

“Oh, Stiles,” she whispered, reaching out to brush away tears that he hadn’t realized had been there. He caught her hand in his and kissed it. “If you want…if you want, I’ll tell you about her.”

He turned his head so that they were almost nose-to-nose. “You will?” he asked, amazed, as always, at how lucky he was to have her by his side.

“If you let me go pee first,” she smiled at him.

He released her hands quickly. “Yeah, of course.”

She rolled to her other side and pushed herself off of the bed, moonlight illuminating the spill of strawberry blonde hair down her back. He watched her disappear into the bathroom. There had to be some way that he could help himself to remember faster. He wanted to know, and not just recognize, but _remember_. It was his entire life that was missing.

She came back a few minutes later, sliding back under the covers next to Stiles, curling towards him again.

“She’s dead, isn’t she?” he asked.

“She died when you were ten,” Lydia told him, “Frontotemporal Dementia. I think it was hard for you and your dad. I’m sure it was.”

“Frontotemporal Dementia,” he repeated blankly, “That’s – “

“Alzheimer’s,” Lydia agreed sadly.

He looked at her. “Then my dad – “

“He knows it’s different, Stiles,” she assured him, “He knows you’re not dying.”

“But it still feels like it did when she was dying. For him,” he said, so quietly, he wasn’t sure how Lydia could even hear him.

She bit her lip. “It’s not your fault, Stiles, please don’t think – “ he buried his head into the space between her neck and her shoulder, hugging her close as he felt his eyes sting. He couldn’t do this anymore. He couldn’t make the people he loved feel this way. He had to remember. He _had_ to.

Lydia made soothing noises, hand rubbing soft circles into his back as he cried. “Please don’t think it’s your fault,” she whispered, “We’re going to find an answer. We’re going to get your memory back.”

After his tears had exhausted him, he pulled away just enough so that he could look at Lydia’s beautiful face again. She smiled bravely at him.

“I want to help,” he decided.

“You will,” she told him, “You are – “

“With the investigation, I mean,” he said, “I think I’m good at that, right?”

She smiled. He loved it when she smiled. “Yes,” she nodded, “You’re very good at it.”

“Will they – can I help?” he asked hopefully.

She pursed her lips. “I don’t know if it’s safe for you to go into the office,” she said apologetically, “But we’ll talk to Scott. I’ll call him in the morning.”

“I love you,” he told her, “You know that I know that, right?”

“I know,” Lydia nodded, eyes sparkling as she hugged him in close, “I love you too.”

“I know,” Stiles whispered into her hair.

 

“I don’t know, Stiles,” Scott told him, a concentrated frown on his face, “I mean, there are _two_ people, now, in the FBI who are working for people who want you kept quiet.”

“What are they going to do, murder me right there in the office?” Stiles argued.

Scott looked at Stiles’s dad, who didn’t seem convinced, and shrugged. “He has a point,” he admitted.

“Where do you think he disappeared from in the first place?” his dad asked, arms folded across his chest.

Scott looked at Stiles. “That’s a good point too,” he sighed.

“Scott, please,” Stiles said desperately, “You need to let me help. I _know_ I can help.”

Scott looked at Malia, who shrugged. “Parrish keeps asking if we want to give Stiles a security detail,” she reminded him, “Maybe we should take him up on that. Stiles is right, we need his help with this investigation. Mason’s great, but he’s only one person.”

 Scott rubbed the bridge of his nose in a motion that Stiles wasn’t sure if he _knew_ or if he _recognized_.

“It might help,” Stiles said quietly, “It might help me remember.”

Scott looked at him with too much sadness in his eyes and nodded. “I’ll call Parrish,” he agreed, standing from the couch and placing a hand on Stile’s shoulder as he passed by on his way to make the call.

He knew, as he watched his best friend, his brother, he would remember. He didn’t like to see him like this, but already it felt like the memories were on the tip of his tongue, waiting deep inside his mind, ready to fill themselves with color. He just needed one last push, something that could trigger it, and they would all come flooding back.


	11. Theo

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Picks up where chapter 9 left off. 
> 
> Just FYI, I'm really not good at writing conflict, so sorry in advance. Also, this chapter was a giant mess until like two minutes ago, so let me know if you notice any glaring mistakes!
> 
> Enjoy!

The warehouse district near the docks always smelled strongly of fish, and today was no different. It was kind of cute to watch Liam wrinkle his nose as the wind blew in towards them from the water, but aside from that, it was pretty terrible. Malia didn’t seem to mind it, or maybe she was just so fed up with Liam and Theo (particularly Theo) that she didn’t have the patience to complain about anything else.

They had left Captain Parrish and the bomb squad to take care of the apartment after calling Scott, and then gone immediately from the crime scene to track down Douglas. Theo knew why Malia was mad at him – she was basically perpetually mad at him, and the little stunt that he had just played had probably lost him any progress he might have been making with her. He wasn’t sure why she seemed to be almost as annoyed with Liam, though.

She paused, more or less at the center of the docks, and turned to look at them. “Okay,” she scowled at Theo, “Where now?”

He had been thinking it through ever since he had gotten Douglas’s general location. He knew the area pretty well, and he had an idea of Douglas’s behavior patterns, but he wasn’t sure it was enough. Still, he didn’t get ahead by relying solely on logic. He had a feeling that, evidence or not, he knew where he would find Douglas. His eyes scanned across the buildings and caught on one down the street, close to the water.

“There,” he indicated, looking across the street towards it, without turning his body, “With the dumpster in front.”

“How do you know?” Liam frowned.

“I just have a feeling.”

“You better hope this _feeling_ doesn’t get us killed,” Malia told him harshly. She pulled out the small radio in her pocket and spoke into it. “Requesting backup to stand by,” she said.

“Copy,” a voice crackled in reply.

“Okay,” she addressed Liam and Theo again, “Raeken stays back. Don’t go anywhere. I mean it,” she glared at him, “And Liam, you and I will go in through the back. If Raeken sees Douglas leave through the front, _he will call for backup_. Do you understand?” she looked at him firmly, and he raised his hands innocently.

“You’re really going to trust me, unsupervised, outside of my radius?” he asked, raising his eyebrows.

“That’s what the tracking anklet’s for,” she told him, unamused, “And the backup.”

Theo smirked. “I’ve got you worried, don’t I?” he asked.

She gave him a disgusted look and turned to Liam. “Okay, Dunbar let’s go.”

Theo leaned against the wall behind him and watched the building undisguisedly, not bothering to conceal his very obvious post of lookout. If they had really wanted his help, they would have given him something to do that he was actually good at. Liam glanced over his shoulder at him twice before they disappeared down an alley.

 

It was a good fifteen minutes before Liam and Malia returned with Doulas in cuffs, victoriously passing him off to some officers with a squad car, but by then Theo was long gone. He was sure he would be in pretty massive trouble for it later, but there was something that he had to do while he was out of Malia and Liam’s sight. He left the anklet on. Taking it off would cause panic, not leaving him enough time to accomplish the task, and besides, his goal wasn’t to escape forever.

The truth was, it was maybe unfair to Tracy that he had spent so little time thinking about her since he had gotten out of jail. They had been friends, at the very least, but friends were hard to come by in a business like the one Theo used to run.

He made his way up a familiar street and in through the front door of an unimpressive apartment building. The land lady recognized him, greeting him warmly, and let him into Tracy’s apartment on the third floor.

The space was about as Tracy as it could get, all of her things exactly where they had been the last time he was there. It wasn’t a place that many people had seen. Even Tracy had only returned to it every once in a while, but it had been her true home. The one nobody else knew about. Decorated in her style with her books and her favorite jewelry hanging from a stand. A dream catcher that her father had given her when she was young was stored in a cardboard box under her bed. If nothing else, being in the room again was painfully sad.

He stood in the doorway for a few minutes, taking it all in, and then began his search. It took him a few minutes to find the small box, about as big as a match box, hidden away on the top shelf of the closet under a pile of thick sweaters. It wasn’t maybe the safest place to keep something this important, but it made Theo smile. It was a very Tracy place to hide it.

He pulled the box out, running his fingers over the pattern carved into the cool grey metal, and tucked it into the inside pocket of his jacket, then he took one last look around her apartment. He had a feeling that even if he didn’t end up back in jail after this, he probably wouldn’t see this place again. At least, not as full of _Tracy_ as it was now.

He closed the door behind him and went out to sit on the front step, elbows on his knees, and wait. He could go back to where he should have been waiting for Liam and Malia, he supposed, but they would already be tracking him down now, and he just felt so tired. The thought of how angry Liam would be didn’t help. Liam was a little unpredictable – just enough that there might be a chance that he wouldn’t hate Theo forever for running off out of his radius in the middle of a crucial operation for something that would seem pointless. He couldn’t tell Liam about the box. He couldn’t tell anyone about the box. Not yet.

 

Liam was beside himself with anger when he caught up with Theo. He didn’t talk to him at all on the ride back to the office and Theo offered no explanation for his disappearance. If Theo was honest, he was surprised to see that he wasn’t going back to jail. Not today, at least.

Instead, he suffered through a half-hearted rebuke from a weary Scott, aided by Malia, who wasn’t as self-satisfied as he had expected her to be. Her eyes kept flickering to Scott, and any energy that she had for “I told you so”s fell away. He had expected more, but he hadn’t expected it to be so hard. The worst part was knowing that a betrayal of faith on Theo’s part was nowhere near the top of their problems now.

Liam seemed to disappear until it was time to go home, at which point, he maintained a stony silence until they were back at his house.

“I thought you left,” he said quietly, as he toed off his shoes, “You _did_ leave. I take my eyes off of you for one second and – “

“I would have come back,” Theo told him.

“Then why didn’t you?” Liam exploded, “You were just _sitting_ there! What was even the point of that?” There was a terrible beauty to Liam’s rage, the way his eyes burned, his voice crescendoing to the ceiling. Theo was sorry to have caused it. And yet, he wouldn’t take any of it back.

“I had to go back and get something,” he said through gritted teeth.

“What could be so important that you left our operation without a lookout and without telling me? If you needed to go somewhere couldn’t you just ask me? I would have gone with you – “

“Maybe I don’t need you with me every second of every day!” Theo shouted back, feeling as though a leash was being pulled taught. And it wasn’t just the heavy-duty plastic around his ankle. He felt tied to Laim, so emotionally invested in him that it quite honestly terrified Theo. And anything was easier than dealing with _that_.

He had Liam properly angry now, but he couldn’t bring himself to take back any of it or even to calm down. There was a morbid satisfaction to digging his own grave.

“You know where the door is,” Liam growled, “You have your own radius. You don’t have to stay here.”

Theo stared at him. This wasn’t right. It wasn’t how he had expected things to go. But still, he would take nothing back. “Fine,” he replied calmly, turning on his heel and going back out the door.

He paused on the top step as the door closed behind him. He hadn’t thought this through. Not at all, but there was no way that he could go back inside now. Something crashed inside the house and he could hear Liam shout in frustration. He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath and started down the street.

 

He had thought about getting a hotel room before he realized that he had no money or really anything else with him. There weren’t many places that he could go within his radius and he wasn’t willing to risk crossing that line again. It was a cold feeling to realize how little friends he had, how much he had been relying on Liam for just about everything.

There was probably only one person within walking distance who would talk to him, and he knew that there would be a time soon when he wouldn’t be welcome in that home either, but for now, at least, he might be let in.

It was dinner time, and he could hear a pot clattering around in the background when he asked to be buzzed up. Lydia greeted him at the door, looking rightfully suspicious, and Stiles yelled to her from the kitchen, asking who it was.

“It’s Theo,” she told him over her shoulder and then looked Theo up and down. “Why don’t you come in?” she asked.

“I just need someone to get me the prison money for a hotel,” he told her. Part of his deal had included that, while he made no money at this faux-job, the money that would have gone to the prison for his upkeep was instead put towards his housing and meals.

“Come in,” she ordered, and he stepped inside just enough for her to close the door.

“What happened?” she asked quietly, which Theo appreciated. Stiles may not remember the huge grudge that he held (for good reason) against Theo, but apparently, he remembered enough to know that he didn’t like him. “Theo?” Lydia pressed, “Why aren’t you at Liam’s?”

“We…kind of had a fight,” he sighed.

“Because you ran off today?” she asked.

“More or less,” he agreed.

Lydia sighed and pushed him onto the couch before going back into the kitchen, talking quietly with Stiles for a minute, and then reappearing with a bottle of beer, which she handed to Theo and a dark, reddish-purple drink for herself.

“Tell me,” she instructed, sitting on the couch next to him and tucking her feet up under her.

“No, that’s pretty much it,” he said, “I mean, I know it goes against my contract to do that, so I expected everyone to be pissed, but Liam – I really don’t know what Liam’s deal is.” He felt a sense of frustration and unease settle in as he remembered the look in Liam’s eyes and just how badly he’d fucked things up.

“It sounds like you need some space,” she hummed, taking a sip from her drink, “Both of you.”

“Lydia,” Theo stared at the wine glass. It would have been terrifying if it had looked anywhere near the consistency of wine. “What are you drinking?”

“Oh,” she glanced down at the drink, “Grape juice. Stiles thought it was funny.”

Theo snorted and shook his head. Normal. Normal people in a normal relationship. Although, it wasn’t really, was it? Not when Stiles couldn’t remember most of it.

“Theo?” she brought his attention back, “Look, I had a feeling something like this might happen soon, so I went ahead and rented an apartment for you, but I don’t think it will be ready to live in until tomorrow or maybe the day after.”

“Lydia – “

“The one on Pleasant Street?” she said, her mouth tipping up into a knowing smile.

Liam gaped at her. “But – that one was too expensive. Like, _way_ too expensive,” he frowned.

She shrugged elegantly and sipped grape juice out of her wine glass again. “I pulled some strings.”

“Some very annoying strings,” Stiles commented, as he passed through to grab a laptop off of the dining room table.

Lydia looked thoughtful for a moment. “Yeah, he has a point,” she conceded, “The downside is, your landlord is a huge drama queen. The upside is, you have a beautiful apartment for a fraction of the cost!” She sent him a winning smile.

“That’s comforting,” he snorted, “Thanks, I guess… So, can you get just enough money for a hotel tonight?”

She shook her head, not looking remotely sorry, “Liam’s the only one with the authority to do that. You’ll have to ask him, but I think you should talk to him anyways. Clearly you’re not on the same page about a few things.”

“I’m not confessing my feelings for him, if that’ what you want,” he hissed, glancing at the doorway to the kitchen and hoping that Stiles couldn’t hear him.

“Did I say that?” she asked coolly.

“Well, no, but – “

“Tell me,” she commanded.

Theo sighed deeply. “I don’t know how I’m ever going to be good enough for him. I don’t think I can be,” he admitted without needing any more pressure to crack. It was getting to the point where admitting things to Lydia felt almost natural now.

“What, like Hayden was?” Lydia snorted.

“She wasn’t a depraved drug lord,” he said.

“No, but she was bad for Liam. And he knows that now. Liam’s the only one that can make that call, okay, Theo?” she looked at him sternly, “ _Okay?_ ”

“Yeah,” he muttered.

“Good, now go talk to him.”

“What, right now?” he felt himself start to panic.

“Yes, right now,” Lydia rolled her eyes, pushing herself to her feet, “I need to eat dinner with my husband.”

 

Theo had almost worked up the nerve to talk to Liam again, when he reached Liam’s street, but he saw the lights still on in the house, two silhouettes moving around and paused on the opposite side of the street. He couldn’t be sure who was inside with Liam, but watching him interacting calmly with someone else after how angry Theo had left him made every single ounce of Theo’s resolve disappear.

He continued down the street a ways to his truck, unlocking it and climbing into the back, pulling his emergency blanket over him. He wouldn’t talk to Liam right now. Maybe not tomorrow either. He didn’t need a hotel room, he reasoned, he would have a place of his own within the next few days anyways, and then he wouldn’t have to bother Liam anymore.

 

He woke up to overly bright sunlight and a sharp knocking sound coming from the window above him. He squinted up to see Liam’s face hovering in the window above him, mouthing “unlock it”. He fumbled around a bit before managing to unlock the truck and push himself up to sitting.

“Did you sleep here last night?” Liam asked, opening the door to the back seat.

“Uh,” Theo rubbed the back of his neck, which felt very sore from however he had ended up sleeping, “Yeah. I have no money and you’re the only one who can give me – I wasn’t ready to come back yet.”

A variety of expressions crossed Liam’s face, and then he did the most surprising thing of all, sliding into the back seat next to Theo. “I shouldn’t have acted that way,” he said stiffly, “I’m sorry.”

Theo shrugged, trying not to let his heart explode out of his chest at the apology. “I probably shouldn’t have gone without telling anyone either,” he mused. He wasn’t sorry, though. He would have gone regardless. It didn’t make him feel any better to realize that, though. It was just another reason why Liam shouldn’t have to put up with him.

“What was that place?” he asked. Theo could feel his eyes on him, but he didn’t meet them.

“Tracy’s apartment,” he said.

Liam shifted and Theo looked at him. He was frowning deeply, eyes fixed out the window. “She must have meant a lot to you,” he said, his voice sounding a little off.

“She was the closest thing I had to a friend, I guess,” Theo said, shrugging.

Liam looked at him, and his eyes looked a little sad. “I’m sorry you don’t have her anymore, then,” he said quietly.

Theo wanted to say _I have you now_ , but he couldn’t. He wasn’t sure if it was even true anymore. Instead, he ripped another band aid off. “Lydia found me an apartment a few blocks from here,” he said, wincing at the sudden change in subject, “She said I can move in within the next few days.”

He watched Liam’s expression go from shock to anger to something like sadness and then resignation, all in the span of a few seconds before shutting off all emotion completely. “Oh,” he said lamely, “Okay. Well, let me know if you want help moving…until then, you can use my shower. You still stink like fish.”

Theo snorted. “Thanks, Liam,” he rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, anytime,” Liam climbed out of the car and waited for Theo to join him.

He was talking to Theo now, he was teasing and joking, but something in his expression was completely shut off now. That beautiful openness that Liam had always had, that had drawn Theo to him again and again, so mercilessly, pulling him back in no matter how many times he pushed or was pushed away. It had disappeared, and Theo’s heart felt strangely empty with it. He wasn’t sure what to do to get it back


	12. Lydia

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if this chapter is kind of a mess and not quite up to par this week, I have a lot of stuff going on right now, but I'm still trying to write as much as I can, partially because I need to for my own sanity and partially because I have set myself a deadline to be done with this series by Thiam Week. That said, I'm going to try to get the next chapter up on Thursday as usual, but I just don't know if it's going to happen. I can promise that this part will be finished next week, though! (Don't panic, remember there will be one more part that takes place after Black Diamond!)
> 
> Also, since it really isn't my best work on this chapter, I'm considering coming back to edit later, particularly because I feel like absolutely nobody is in character as it is, but if you see any little things or inconsistencies, feel free to let me know so that I can fix them :)
> 
> Enjoy!

It was nice to be sharing the office with Stiles again. It had been too quiet without the endless tapping and muttering, the constant in her peripheries while they both were working. It was calming and reassuring, even with the coming and going of their friends.

“Hey, Lydia?” Stiles asked suddenly from across the room.

She couldn’t help smiling to herself. “Hmm?”

Stiles didn’t reply, but she heard the tapping of keys and turned to see him deeply focused on his work.

“What?” she asked again.

“Mason said that there were two FBI agents who accessed the server, right?” he looked over his shoulder at her and then quickly back to the computer, subconsciously signaling her to come over.

Lydia pulled herself to her feet and crossed the room to lean over Stiles’s shoulder, eyes scanning the screen before them for whatever he had found. “Yeah…” she confirmed, “Douglas and most likely someone with a hacking or at least technology-based background.”

“What if the second hacker isn’t FBI?” he asked, looking up at her.

“Hacking these files from within the FBI is hard enough,” she thought aloud, “If we’re looking at someone who hacked the entire FBI system, we might have a bigger problem than just drugs.”

“Not necessarily,” Stiles said, focusing back on the computer with near-obsessive enthusiasm that was painfully familiar to Lydia. “I can’t get an exact IP address yet, but chances are looking pretty high that it’s still coming from an FBI computer.” He turned to look at her with the excitement of a new theory shining in his eyes. “What I’m wondering is, could someone have access to an FBI computer through good old-fashioned in-person cons?”

Lydia thought about it. “I guess so,” she said finally, “I could see Sebastien conning his way onto an FBI computer more easily than some new hacker who isn’t even involved in the first place.”

Stiles sat in silent thought, tapping a pen against his lips as he stared at the screen.

“What are you thinking?” she asked him.

“I’m just…what if it’s that Raeken kid?” he glanced up at her as though he already knew exactly what she was going to say.

“It’s not him,” she replied with conviction.

“I mean, he practically made an escape the other day,” he countered, “And I know you’re friends with him or whatever, but he’s kind of sketchy. Plus, he could probably get access to Liam’s computer pretty easily.”

“I don’t think he could do it now,” she shook her head, “Something’s changed.”

Stiles let it drop. “Either way, I’m going to run a few programs and I should hopefully have an IP address by the end of the day.”

“We should tell Scott once you’ve done that,” Lydia replied, rubbing her swollen stomach absently and returning to her chair, “But nobody else. We don’t need it getting out before we know exactly who it is.”

“Alright,” Stiles agreed, “We’ll go in a few minutes.”

 

“So you’re saying it might not be another FBI agent?” Scott asked hopefully.

“I’m saying they may or may not have been willing or even aware of the fact that their computer was being used to hack my files,” Stiles corrected, “I would still put money on Theo, but we’ll hopefully find out within a few hours.”

“It can’t be Theo,” Scott said. He glanced at Lydia. They had never outright talked about it, but she was sure that he somehow knew that Theo had made too strong of a connection with Liam to knowingly fuck it up, even if he had probably never confessed his undying love for Liam to Scott.

“Oh my god!” Stiles flailed, “Why can he suddenly do no wrong?! What, do you guys trust him now or something?”

Lydia felt her breath catch. Stiles hadn’t spoken about Theo like this since before he had gone missing. As far as she knew, he only had vague details about what Theo had done to all of them years ago, but this…why did it suddenly sound like he knew exactly what he was talking about?

“I think he has his reasons not to betray us now,” Scott said carefully, “We have to at least give him the benefit of the doubt sometimes.”

“No, you know what?” Stiles argued, “This is a bad idea. I can’t trust him. I don’t know how you can.”

“We have to _try_ ,” Scott said earnestly, “ _I_ have to try.”

“Well, not everyone can be perfect, Scotty. Some of us are…”

Lydia looked curiously at him, but something registered in Scott’s face, a dawning realization that matched the look on Stiles’s face. The tension of the argument dissipated completely and immediately.

“Some of us are human,” Scott finished, a smile spreading widely onto his face. Stiles grinned back and launched himself at Scott, wrapping him tightly in a hug.

Scott’s eyes were shining when they broke apart and Stiles was already crying as he turned to Lydia. For once, her brain was being slow to catch up.

“Lydia, my amazing, beautiful queen,” he pulled her into him, placing such a kiss on her lips, that she finally knew that it could only be Stiles in his entirety.

“You’re back,” she breathed, unable to look away from his beautiful whiskey eyes, glittering and sure in their familiarity.

“I’m back,” he agreed, wrapping her up in another kiss.

“And let me guess,” Scott said in what would have been a dry voice if he hadn’t been so full of happy tears, “You still don’t trust Theo?”

“Oh, _hell_ no!” Stiles laughed.

“I guess we’ll find out soon enough,” Scott shrugged, unable to keep himself from grinning widely.

“Hey,” Lydia said, taking Stiles’s hand and lacing their fingers together, “We should go find your dad.”

“Yeah!” Stiles’s face changed suddenly, looking stricken, “Oh my god, my dad! Lydia…” His eyes were shining with tears again, sad ones this time, as his hands drifted up to rest on her baby bump. “I’m so sorry. I could have left my dad completely alone.” He dropped to his knees and kissed her stomach. She could barely hear what he was saying beneath her, but the room had become just quiet enough. “I could have left our daughter without a parent.”

“You wouldn’t have,” Lydia sniffed, threading a hand through his hair, “You were always going to come back. Anyone who thinks they can take Stiles Stilinski away from his family has another thing coming.”

“I’m sorry,” he muttered again.

“It wasn’t your fault,” Scott said, hauling him up for another hug and reeling Lydia in too, “But I’m sure as hell glad you’re back.”

 

It was another few minutes before they could get themselves together enough to call Stiles’s dad and then Malia to Scott’s office, and then there was more hugging and more tears and Lydia wasn’t sure she had been this happy since her wedding day. Or maybe since she had told Stiles she was pregnant. That had been a pretty amazing day too.

Derek poked his head into Scott’s office midway through the hug fest for some reason that was probably at least mildly important and found himself being tackled by Stiles going on about his “cousin Miguel”, which confused the hell out of everyone else, but made Derek smile more widely than he had since the last time he had been to Beacon Hills.

“We need to get Melissa over here,” Stiles’s dad said.

“No,” Malia countered, “We need to go out and celebrate!”

“Right now?” Scott asked, looking halfway persuaded already.

“Why not?” Malia shrugged, “Hey, we can even invite Liam and Mason and the rest the puppy pack to join us!”

Lydia grinned from under Stiles’s arm. Malia had to be an amazing mood if she was suggesting inviting the junior agents. Then again, she was pretty sure everyone was in an amazing mood. Lydia turned her smile up to Stiles. “What do you think?” she asked.

“I’m in!” He agreed happily, “Let me just check the programs I have running. They should be coming up with an IP any minute now.”

She let him lead her out of the cheerful office and back into their own, smiling at Stiles the entire time. There would be things that they would need to talk about and Lydia was sure that there would be more dark moments, maybe even some relapses ahead, but it was all entirely worth it to have Stiles back, to see everyone happy again. It made anything seem possible.

“Hey, Lydia?” Stiles said frowning as he sat in front of his computer, “Can you get Scott in here?”

She nodded quickly, feeling her light heart begin to grow heavy again. She wasn’t sure what Stiles had found, but it definitely couldn’t be good.

She made her way quickly back to Scott’s office where everyone was still gathered, chatting happily. “Scott,” she said breathlessly, “I think Stiles found something.”

The smiles fell from everyone’s faces and they followed Scott and Lydia back to Stiles’s office, where he was sitting at his computer staring at a screen that, for once, wasn’t written in code. It wasn’t what she had been expecting. Not at all. A part of her had always whispered that Theo couldn’t have changed so much. Or maybe it would be someone they barely knew, some other branch of the FBI like Douglas had been, or someone low enough down to take a bribe. In all honesty, the file glowing on Stiles’s computer screen had been the very last one that she would have expected.

There was a knock at the door and Liam pushed inside, followed closely by Mason and Theo. He looked ready to say something, but his eyes caught on the computer screen and he froze, confused expressions warping all three of their faces.

“What’s going on?” Liam asked finally.


	13. Theo

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First off, I just want to say (again) that this chapter was hastily written and probably needs more editing too, but I didn't want to keep you in suspense on that cliffhanger any longer, so sorry if this chapter isn't up to par either. 
> 
> Also! You may have noticed that I totally lied and the final chapter count will now be 16! I need one more chapter (it will be from Liam's pov) to get us set up for Black Diamond, but I figured you guys probably wouldn't mind one more chapter :) The again, this one somehow ended up being over 5k, which is pretty good for me, so...hang in there! (I really don't know how that happened)
> 
> Anyways, thanks for reading, and, again, if you notice any mistakes or inconsistancies, please feel free to let me know! 
> 
> Enjoy :)
> 
> PS - just a warning, the emotions are all over the place in this chapter, so buckle your seatbelts and good luck!

Theo stared at Mason’s face smiling up at them from Stiles’s computer screen, his brain immediately whirring into motion. Stiles had been looking into finding the IP of the other hacker. Probably someone within the FBI, although, this was _Mason_. Mason wouldn’t hurt a fly and he had never given the slightest hint that something might be wrong. It wasn’t on purpose, Theo realized, Mason knew no more about this than the rest of them did. Even if it was his computer that had been used to do the hacking, Mason hadn’t had anything to do with it. Not intentionally, anyways.

“Do you want to explain this, Mason?” Scott asked carefully.

“Explain what?” Mason asked in utter bewilderment.

“Why every program that I ran to find the IP address of the other hacker brought up _your_ work computer?” Stiles raised his eyebrows accusingly. Theo might have been happy to realize that Stiles seemed to have recovered his full memory if the timing hadn’t been so terrible.

He watched as Liam’s eyes slid to Mason in confused disappointment. Even Mason’s best friend didn’t know what to believe.

“I didn’t – it wasn’t –“ Mason looked around at all of them helplessly, “I have no idea what – “

“Stop!” Lydia said firmly. Theo looked at her in surprise, but she wasn’t looking at Mason, instead, she was looking disapprovingly between Stiles and Scott. “If you _really_ think that Mason was the one who hacked the files, then you’re out of your minds!”

“Lydia, just because he’s –“

“No, Stiles,” she said, firmly, “He didn’t do it.” Her fierce eyes snapped to Theo, “Tell them.”

Theo gaped. “I didn’t do it either!” he said defensively, feeling Liam’s hurt look fix on him instead.

“That’s not what I’m saying,” Lydia rolled her eyes, “I’m saying you know better that anyone when somebody’s hiding something. Is there something that Mason’s not telling us?”

Theo looked at Mason, who’s wide eyes were fixed on him in the same state of confused, scared, bewilderment. “No,” he said, after a minute, “He didn’t know anything about this.”

The tension in Scott’s shoulders eased. “The somebody else was using his computer,” Scott inferred.

“That aligns more with Sebastien’s M.O.,” Theo agreed, “He could easily have found a way to get Mason to unwittingly give him access to something that could be connected to his work computer and then gone from there.”

Scott nodded. “We’ll look into it,” he sighed.

“Right now, we’re going to celebrate,” Lydia said decidedly, “Stiles has his memory back and I think it’s time we took a break, just for a night.”

“She’s right,” Scott agreed, looking at Liam, Mason, and Theo, “You three are coming. And bring Corey…and Hayden, I guess. If you have to.”

Liam looked slightly torn. Theo knew that he wanted to invite her; they had been getting along better than ever. But it was no secret that pretty much none of his friends thought much of her. Regardless, Theo decided, he wasn’t needed there. His new apartment might be ready for him to move in by now…maybe he could check on that? The idea felt half-hearted.

“Theo,” Lydia said sweetly, linking her arm through his as they filed out of the office, making their way back to the main floor, “You’re coming tonight.”

“I don’t think so,” he said flatly.

“I think you mistook that for a question,” she said, squeezing his arm painfully, “It wasn’t.”

“Lydia, I’m pretty sure you’re the only one who likes me,” he told her dryly.

“Liam likes you,” she tried valiantly, as if Theo didn’t know just how much Liam probably still hated him at that moment.

He snorted in dark amusement. “Yeah, okay,” he said dryly.

“You’re an idiot,” she told him bluntly, “You’re both idiots.” She released his arm, moving to catch up with Stiles and his dad. “And you’re still coming, by the way!” she informed him over her shoulder.

“You weren’t going to come?” Liam asked when Theo paused at his desk to grab his jacket.

Theo turned to see Liam watching him with that same blank look in his eye. Most people didn’t notice it. Theo knew Mason had been giving both of them odd looks all day, but besides that, Theo seemed to be the only one. He was sure he was the only one it was aimed at.

“Um…I don’t know,” Theo admitted, shrugging into his leather jacket, “Stiles doesn’t really like me, so…”

“Lydia does,” Liam’s eyes flickered away and his fingers played at the end of his jacket sleeve.

“Yeah, well,” Theo huffed, “Believe it or not, not everything is about Lydia.”

“Don’t let her hear you say that,” Liam said, and then smiled sheepishly, like he wasn’t sure if he should be making jokes to Theo Raeken, the convict he was in charge of, who had almost run away twice in one day.

In spite of himself, Theo felt the corner of his mouth lift into a smile. “I’ll come as long as Hayden’s not coming,” he decided. He would torture himself, he supposed, but not to that extent.

“I’m not inviting her,” Liam smiled slightly, “Stiles didn’t like her either.”

“So I’m fine, but not Hayden?” Theo teased, feeling his heart jump at the vague indication that Liam might prefer him to Hayden, as they fell into step with each other, slowly making their way towards the elevators.

“Well, you’re not my ex,” Liam told him lightly, “So everybody besides Stiles might forgive you.”

 

Theo didn’t drink usually, but Lydia had been giving him the drinks that random guys sent her (which Stiles was annoyed at, at first, and then began to think was hilariously funny, since Lydia was already into her second trimester and clearly pregnant), and now he was feeling kind of tipsy.

Liam, on the other hand, was well on his way to being drunk off his ass.

“No, you totally thought that Liam and Theo were dating!” Corey was laughing to an aghast-looking Stiles, leaning heavily into Mason’s side.

“That’s crazy!” Liam shouted, overly loud for their crowded table, “If I was dating Theo, _I_ would know!” He nodded definitively to himself, as if that sealed the deal.

Theo laughed openly at that, alcohol making him feel more at ease in the group and particularly with Liam than he had in a while.

“What, you don’t think I would know if I was dating you?” Liam argued.

“I think if anyone could be in a relationship without realizing it, it would be you,” Theo said with a smirk, clinking his glass against Lydia’s Shirley Temple when it was offered.

“Yeah, well…” Liam spent a few minutes trying to figure out a comeback and apparently decided on, “You’re a shitty boyfriend.”

Theo tipped his head back and laughed at that too. “It’s not exactly something that I have a lot of experience with, Liam,” he reminded him, and for once, mentioning his past didn’t bother him. Probably because not much would bother him while he was a few drinks in and sitting next to Liam.

“Well then I guess I’ll have to tell you how to be a good boyfriend,” Liam said, leaning towards him over the corner of the table, a smile playing at his lips.

“Really, Stiles?” Lydia asked her husband, “You don’t see it?”

“No, not at all,” he said determinedly.

“Okay, Liam,” Theo grinned at Stiles’s stubbornness, “What do I have to do to be a good boyfriend?”

Liam looked considering, even going to far as to tap his chin. “Well, first you have to buy me a drink,” he decided.

“Not happening,” Theo told him gleefully, “Unless it’s water.”

Liam pouted, which was almost too much, but Theo couldn’t – _wouldn’t_ – cave in front of their friends. “Why not?” he whined.

“Because it kills your liver,” Theo said simply.

“You’re still a shitty boyfriend,” Liam grumbled.

“Whatever,” he rolled his eyes, “What else?”

Liam cast his eyes around the dimly lit bar. “You have to be nice to me,” he decided.

“I’m always nice to you,” Theo assured him, giving him his signature smirk.

“You look so evil when you do that,” Mason told him.

“Yeah, but it’s hot, though,” Corey told Theo, receiving a playful elbow in the ribs from Mason and then a sweet kiss.

“Thanks,” Theo said dryly.

“A good boyfriend also holds his boyfriend’s hand,” Lydia joined in happily. Theo had never seen someone so pleased at being the only sober person in a group.

“Uh-uh,” Theo shook his head, trying to communicate through a look that she needed to stop while she was ahead, but Lydia conveniently missed it, “Not happening.”

While he was distracted with trying to catch Lydia’s eye, Liam snatched his hand off of the table and held it up for them to see.

“ _I_ can be a boyfriend…a good boyfriend,” Liam said with an air of superiority, despite stumbling over his words. “See? _You_ don’t even realize that we’re in a relationship!”

Theo felt his heart clench, but he smirked around the sudden despair, unwilling to show weakness.

“We’re not _in_ a relationship,” he said, his only consolation being that Lydia looked slightly sorry for putting him in the situation. She pushed Stiles’s drink across the table to him.

“Really?” Stiles asked her in disbelief, “To _Raeken_?”

“ _Exactly_ ,” Liam agreed with Theo, reaching for his drink, “And you have to share that drink with me too.”

“You literally _just_ got your memory back,” Lydia told Stiles, “You really don’t need to get drunk tonight. Especially if it’s just to spite Theo.”

Theo slid the drink away from Liam’s reaching hand and downed it in one, twisting away without letting go of his hand.

“She has a point, son,” Stiles’s dad told him.

“You suck,” Liam pouted at Theo.

Stiles grumbled under his breath but accepted a glass of water from Scott.

“I thought that was a good trait in a boyfriend,” Theo continued to smirk.

Liam’s entire face turned pink, and next to him, Mason spat out his water.

“Good boyfriends also dance with their pregnant friends when their pregnant friends’ husbands have a habit of flailing and smacking people in the face when they try to dance,” Lydia said, standing up and holding her hand out insistently to Theo, who rolled his eyes but released Liam’s hand and allowed her to pull him to his feet and towards the dance floor.

“That was _one time_!” Stiles shouted after them.

“What the fuck, Lydia?” he complained as they came to a spot towards the edge of the group of dancers.

“What, you _didn’t_ want me to save you from that trainwreck?” she asked, already bopping to the music, “And yes, Stiles really does hit people when he tries to dance.”

Theo looked back at the table. Liam was talking closely with Mason, looking repeatedly back at Theo.

“Dance, Theo,” Lydia insisted, “You look like an idiot just standing there.”

He felt kind of like an idiot, but he had a feeling he was about to feel even more like an idiot when he started dancing.

“There you go,” she nodded approvingly when he started to move, “Now we just wait until Liam comes over.”

“ _What_?” He frowned, pausing until she pulled him back into motion, bopping up and down, close enough to be able to hear each other over the music.

“Your apartment should be ready for you to move in tomorrow,” she yelled so he could hear her, “Get Liam to go with you. And maybe Mason and Corey.”

“Already?” he asked, sober enough to realize that he was being distracted, but drunk enough not to do anything about it.

“I told you it would be ready soon,” she said, “And Peter owes me basically for life.”

“Must be nice,” Theo mused, eyes already distracted by Liam again, who seemed to be trying to get Mason and maybe Corey to do something.

“Don’t act like you can’t relate to that,” Lydia said lightly.

“It’s different for me,” Theo said, “You know that.”

“I know,” she said haughtily, “Stop pretending people don’t know you and shut just dance.”

He didn’t have to wait long to realize what she had been planning. Liam, Mason and Corey joined them on the dance floor and Lydia left soon after.

“You’re not supposed to leave me to dance with pretty girls,” Liam told him, leaning close to speak in his ear, “You’re supposed to be my boyfriend for the night.”

Theo pulled away to look at him and then leaned back in. “We’re not boyfriends…” Liam pouted. “Babe.”

A dazzling grin split across Liam’s face and Theo couldn’t find enough reasonable thought to care how much splitting his heart in half would hurt. He laughed and started to back away to resume dancing, but suddenly an arm was looped around his neck and his body was brought close to Liam’s, swaying automatically with the heavy beat of the music. He risked a glance at Mason and Corey, but they were in their own world, dancing face to face, very similarly, actually, to how Theo and Liam were dancing.

A sharp pain flashed in what he recognized to be the pressure point at his collar bone. He swore, knees bending, as the offending arm wrapped around his neck to join the other.

“Seriously?” he asked Liam, “You can’t form coherent sentences, but you can pull this Jiujitsu shit on me?”

“I can totally form co – sentences that make sense,” Liam argued, using his strong arms to pull Theo closer as they danced.

Theo steadfastly refused to acknowledge the way their bodies brushed against each other, sharing heat and breathing space.

“You can’t even say coherent, _babe_ ,” he told him, maybe a little too fondly.

“I can,” Liam insisted.

“Say it, then,” Theo challenged.

“Co…co…uhg. Nevermind.”

“Yeah,” Theo agreed, extracting himself from Liam’s arms and taking one of his hands for what he told himself was safety purposes, “Let’s get you home, okay?”

Liam looked like he was about to argue but nodded instead.

It took a few minutes to say goodbye to Corey and Mason and the few people left at their table, and Theo was relieved when they finally walked out into the quiet, cool night air.

“You know,” Liam said, as they started walking back to his house, “A _really_ good boyfriend would give me his jacket.”

Theo looked at him to see Liam batting his eyelashes ridiculously.

“Where’s your coat?” he frowned.

Liam shrugged. “I think Lydia took it when she and Stiles left,” he said, unconcerned.

Theo rolled his eyes and released Liam’s hand, causing him to stop in the middle of the sidewalk. He pulled his jacket off and handed it to Liam, guiding him gently to the edge of the sidewalk so that other people could pass them. Liam struggled for a minute, but finally got the jacket on. It was almost too much. The whole thing was ridiculous. There was too much that could be seen as flirting, and he wasn’t sure his heart could handle it, but he didn’t want it to stop either.

It was cool out, but not so cold that Theo missed his jacket, not with Liam walking so closely next to him. The rest of the walk was finished with very few words for once. Theo held Liam’s hand to keep him steady and on the sidewalk, and hoped that he might forget some of the night. It was probable that he would resent Theo for it in the morning.

“You’re coming in, right?” Liam asked as they climbed the front steps.

“This is where I live until tomorrow, apparently,” Theo replied.

Liam frowned deeply. “I don’t want you to move,” he whined, leaning against the house next to the door while Theo looked for the key.

He froze and looked at Liam, whose head was lolling back against the house, eyes closed, face peaceful and beautiful in the harsh light of the street lamps. He didn’t want to deal with this. He didn’t want to have his heart broken repeatedly, and he felt selfishly that maybe if he went into Liam’s house and finished that bottle of Jack from forever ago, then Liam would have to take care of him instead. It wasn’t like Theo was exactly sober either, just more so than Liam.

He said nothing but fished the key from the pocket of Liam’s jeans and unlocked the front door. “Let’s go,” he said, waving him inside, “Bedtime.”

Liam moved sluggishly into the house, taking a long time getting his shoes off and then looked over his shoulder at Theo.

“Upstairs,” Theo sighed, “I’ll get you a bottle of water.”

“I’m going to be so hungover tomorrow, aren’t I?” Liam yawned.

“You and me both, babe,” Theo muttered, moving into the kitchen quickly to grab some water and Aspirin, and then back to the stairs to follow Liam slowly up.

He set the water and pills on the nightstand and helped Liam out of the jacket and his jeans (which was particularly trying, and something that he fought hard not to think about), making sure he was in his bed and already dozing off, before turning out the light and heading for the stairs.

“You can stay,” Liam said, just loudly enough to be heard.

Theo looked back at him cuddled up in the bed. His heart had been through enough for one day. “Not tonight,” he said regretfully, and went down to his lonely cocoon on the couch.

 

If Theo had thought that the previous night was bad, it was nothing compared to the next morning. His head was throbbing and his throat was dry, but from what he could hear coming from the upstairs bathroom, Liam was way worse.

That was nothing, however, compared to what he felt when Liam came downstairs around noon. Theo had been hoping that he might forget at least part of what had happened the night before, but from the way Liam blushed and avoided Theo as much as he could, Theo could tell that he had hoped in vain.

When he told Liam that he was going to move after their extremely late breakfast, he half expected Liam to ignore him or just let him leave, but he immediately insisted on helping. Theo didn’t have much at Liam’s place, but his new apartment was fully furnished and he planned on making a list of things he needed from his other apartments once he got there.

On the first trip over, Theo had the experience of meeting his new landlord for the first time. Peter Hale (Derek’s uncle, weirdly enough) showed them around the lavish building, talking ceaselessly about the prices of things and the origins of everything from the elegant furniture to the priceless art on the walls. So much, in fact, that Theo was struck by his resemblance to a peacock, which he then couldn’t quite get out of his head.

Liam snorted in laughter when Theo whispered as much to him on their way upstairs to the studio apartment that would belong to Theo.

“This is insane,” Liam whispered back gleefully, momentarily seeming to forget that he had been mostly avoiding talking to Theo all day. “You’re really going to live with him?”

“I have the whole apartment to myself,” Theo shrugged with a smile, “I probably won’t even see him that much. It’ll be fine.”

“And this,” Peter said significantly, as he unlocked a door at the top of the stairs, “Is your apartment.” He pushed the door open and gestured them through.

It was small, but incredibly nice and well-designed. All of the furniture and appliances were on the same level as Peter’s showing a taste that was a little more elegant than Theo’s usual preferences, but still far nicer than every other place that he had looked. Peter went around the apartment, talking the whole time, but Theo ignored him in favor of looking around. Most of the space was taken up by an open kitchen/dining/living area, with the bed tucked into an alcove that might have been another room if there were more walls and a door. From the main living area, a large wall of windows with a set of French doors in the middle opened out onto the room of one of Peter’s rooms, complete with plants and deck furniture, it was one thing at least, that Theo had never had before.

“This is nice,” Liam commented, looking impressed.

“Yeah, I think living here will be nice,” Theo said hesitantly. It was his choice, he reminded himself. He was going to move out of Liam’s house and he was going to like living here just as much. No. Even more.

“I mean…are you sure?” Liam asked doubtfully, glancing at Peter.

No. “Yes,” Theo said firmly. He wanted to stay with Liam. “I want to live here.”

Liam shrugged, still not looking convinced. “If you say so.”

 

Theo woke up in a cold sweat in his new apartment that night (or maybe in the early hours of the next morning), heart racing, breath coming in quick pants. He had watched his sister die again. He had stood at the edge of the docks, watching her try to keep afloat in the icy water, gasping his name through shuddering lips. The next moment, he had been in the morgue at Eichen, standing in front of the rows of cold silver doors. The door in front of him flew open, revealing a body covered in a white sheet, but folded back just enough to reveal a pair of small feet with a tag hanging off one toe. _Tara Raeken_. With an uncanny suddenness that only happened in dreams, his sister was climbing out of the drawer towards him, eyes hungry as he stumbled backwards in terror. He felt her fingers pry into his chest, ripping at his flesh, and woke up to his heart being ripped out of his body.

Theo had forgotten how often he used to have these dreams before he had lived with Liam, and he was already sitting up and calling him before he could even register that it was a bad idea. It had already rung through to voicemail when he found enough sense to actually hang up. He brought his knees to his chest, propping his elbows on them while his hands covered his face, cool night air caressing his skin as the sheets tangled around his waist. What was he calling Liam for? They were friends, but not that close. Not anymore. He wasn’t sure, now he thought about it, if they even had ever been.

The vibrations of his phone, still clenched in his hands made him jump. He looked curiously at the screen. Liam Dunbar. He would have seen that he had just missed a call from Theo and probably started panicking. It was incredibly awkward, but Theo had to answer. Maybe he could pass it off as an accident or something.

“Theo?” Liam’s voice came soft and sleepy over the phone and Theo was suddenly irrationally glad that he had called without thinking, even if it was just to hear Liam speak. “Are you okay?” he sounded worried, “Is something wrong?”

“I’m fine,” he said, trying to get his voice under control, “I didn’t mean to wake you up. It’s not important.”

“Theo,” Liam said again, more firmly this time, “I can tell something’s wrong. What is it?”

Theo tried to think of something to say. Some excuse. Maybe he could just hang up.

“Did you have that dream again?” Liam asked.

“I – what?”

“With your sister,” he clarified, “I just thought…You really freaked out that one time when you were sleeping over here.” Theo wondered if Liam sounded a bit self-conscious or if he was just imagining it.

Theo was silent for another few minutes, processing. “Yeah,” he said quietly, running a hand through his hair, “Yeah, it was that dream.”

“Do you want to tell me about it?” Liam asked softly.

“You know how I said I would tell you the whole story sometime?” Theo asked before he could realize what he was saying.

“Yeah?” Liam said breathlessly. In the dark night, three blocks between them, each word seemed to take on a new significance, a deeper meaning. Suspense built with each breath and a deep bond seemed to connect them across the distance.

Theo smiled slightly. “Can I tell you about it now?”

The silence seemed endless, but finally Liam spoke. “Yes.”

He took a deep breath. “My parents died when I was eight. Tara was six,” he began. There were people who knew this story. It had been tossed around, expanded, changed. But Theo had never told it to anybody himself. Not to Tracy, not to anyone. Liam said nothing, but his breath came softly over the phone and Theo knew he was listening. He scooted back so that he could lean against the wall to talk more comfortably. “We went to live with our aunt and uncle, but for some reason, we decided it would be better if we ran away. One thing led to another and the Dread Doctors found us.

“They promised us everything that we could ever want. Power, money, things that sounded impressive to elementary-aged orphans…we did whatever they asked. They taught us to be ruthless, to run a drug cartel with an iron fist. We were pitted against each other from day one,” he paused. Maybe he shouldn’t be saying this. It was entirely possible that Liam would end up hating him when he knew the who story.

“You can tell me,” Liam said softly, seeming to read his mind.

Theo swallowed the tightness in his throat and continued. “They were tailoring us to take over the operation, but only one of us could do it. I – I did a lot of things that I regret. I regretted them then too, but not enough. Not nearly enough. I never killed anyone, but I made a lot of them wish they _were_ dead. It was a huge power move. Putting an eight-year-old in charge of a drug cartel, essentially an innocent-looking weapon.

“But then it came down to the line. They told us both that we had to arrange the murder of each other. Clearly the idea was that whoever lived would take over the business.

“So I didn’t wait. I didn’t know if she would kill me or if she even could, but at that point I didn’t…” He could feel the heaviness of his past weighing him down. The shame, the horror, the grief of what he had done. He would never outlive it. “I didn’t think that I could take the chance.

“I waited just long enough for the first cold front of the winter and had her taken onto a boat, thrown into the water, just far enough out that she couldn’t swim back. Not with the temperature of the water,” his voice shuddered to a stop and he listened to Liam’s breathing for another minute or so. He was still listening. “I stood on the docks and watched her freeze to death. Or maybe she drowned, I don’t know. We took the body before they could finish the autopsy. Then the Dread Doctor’s cut out her heart and –“ He stopped, feeling his throat close as hot tears fell down his cheeks. He had no right to wipe them away.

“Theo,” Liam said quietly, gently, almost, “You don’t have to say it.”

“I can’t –“ Theo gasped, sobs wracking his body already. He had cried over this, that wasn’t new, but he had never had a reaction like this.

“Shh,” Liam made soothing sounds at him over the phone, “You don’t have to say it. I know.”

Theo tried to calm himself down, remind himself that Liam could throw him back in jail, Liam could hate him forever, but he couldn’t stop the harsh breaths being wrenched from his chest.

“Do you want me to come over?” Liam asked softly, pausing in his comforting sounds.

“No, I’m – how can you even still be talking to me right now?” Theo choked out, “I just told you I killed my sister when I was ten!”

“Why are you acting like I don’t already know everything about you?” Liam asked, sounding slightly annoyed, “It’s a part of your past, and if I’m going to accept you then I guess I’m going to have to accept that too.”

Theo was totally speechless. Disgust he had expected. Loathing, he had expected. Acceptance from Liam? Total, unconditional acceptance? There was nothing that could have prepared him for that. He sank down along the wall until he was curled on his side, pillow under his head, pulling the covers around him as he cradled the phone close to his ear.

“Look, I’ve heard your story before,” Liam told him calmly, “I just wanted to hear it from you.”

“Why?” Theo found himself wondering.

“Because you’re the only one who could tell me the entire truth. And you wanted to tell me,” Liam replied as if it was the most simple thing in the world. “Thank you.”

“Thanks for not running away screaming,” Theo snorted, brushing the tears from his face.

“You may not have forgiven yourself yet,” he said carefully, “And that’s okay, but I want you to know that…it’s okay.”

There were a few minutes of silence in which neither of them hung up.

“Hey Liam?” Theo asked, snuggling closer into his pillows and blankets as he let Liam’s voice wash over him.

“Hmm?”

“What did you and Hayden talk about?” he wondered, “What made you suddenly get along again?”

Liam hesitated a moment before speaking. “Um…we talked about our relationship. How we’re both pretty much over each other now…Hayden has a girlfriend. And…uh…we talked about you too.”

“Me?” Theo asked sleepily. He hadn’t thought he would be able to get back to sleep, he didn’t usually after those nightmares, but something about Liam’s soothing voice in his ear had calmed his heartrate right down.

“Yeah, we were just catching up on what’s been going on with each other since we broke up, you know?” Liam said quickly enough for Theo to know that it wasn’t entirely the truth, but he decided to let it go.

“Mmm,” he agreed, “And what has she been up to?” He was so tired, so strangely contented, that he didn’t even mind talking about Hayden. _I could learn to like her_ , he thought, _especially if she and Liam have both moved on. Especially if being her friend makes Liam happy_.

He lost track of how long they talked and what exactly they talked about. All that really mattered was Liam’s voice in his ear.

 

Theo woke up to a beeping in his ear and fished sleepily under his head for his phone. It was on its last few percent of battery life, still showing Liam’s name with a timer of over five hours running on their call. Theo pressed the red phone icon and cast his phone aside, shoving his face into his pillow. He had fallen asleep talking to Liam, and he wasn’t sure if he should be pleased or mortified.

He smiled into his pillow.


	14. Mason

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I don't really know what the update schedule is going to be like this week. I guess it just depends on what I have time for. The next chapter will either be out tomorrow or Thursday, but the last two will definitely be out by Friday because I haven't started Part 4 yet, but I want to post that entire thing next week (I'm hoping it will be short). And no, I am steadfastly not thinking about the fact that this entire series that I have devoted like 6 months to will be over next week. I'm not. I have things to do (AKA Thiam week. I still have to write like 6 fics, so yes, this will be done next week!)
> 
> Anyways, sorry for the rant.
> 
> Enjoy!

Mason maintained that he would have picked up on it sooner if he hadn’t had so many other things to deal with at the time. Liam was his best friend, sure, and he really should be able to pick up on it when Liam violently changed his mind about people. As far as he could tell, it had been a wild rollercoaster of emotions for Liam for a long time now, but especially since they had brought Douglas in. That had seemed to be when everything changed.

He had watched his best friend flirt openly with Theo Raeken for hours the other night, drunk and uncaring of consequences. Then Theo had moved to his fancy new apartment and now both of them were sad and uncommunicative. _Something_ was going on, and it wasn’t just an inside joke between Mason and Corey anymore.

Aside from that, Mason had to deal with the fact that it was _his_ computer that had been hacked by the Beast. He was pretty sure that nobody thought he was working _for_ Sebastien, now that the initial panic had subsided, but he couldn’t shake the feeling, however ill-founded it was, that he was still to blame. It had been his computer for a reason, after all. There must have been something he had done, somewhere he had gone wrong.

“We don’t blame you, Mason,” Liam reminded him at lunch, “You know it wasn’t your fault, right?”

“I made a mistake,” Mason shook his head, “I lent my phone to a stranger or something, who knows. But I’m an FBI agent, Liam, I should be more careful. I should be smarter than that.”

“You are, Mase,” Liam said around a bunch of French fries, “You always do the right thing, even if it’s not the easiest. You help people.”

He frowned. He tried to help, he did. But nobody could do the right thing all the time. Sometimes in trying to help, he made things worse. Sometimes, apparently, much much worse.

“We’ll fix it,” Liam said finally, realizing that Mason didn’t want to be convinced. It didn’t really matter now anyways. “It’s a start. We can catch Sebastien and we can find a way to put him behind bars.” And that, really, was what counted.

“So what’s going on with Hayden?” He asked, moving on to another subject before he had to spend more time thinking about how they had no idea where to even start looking for the Beast, “Now that Stiles has his memory back, I mean?”

Liam shrugged casually. “She went back home to be with her sister again yesterday. I think it helps now that she knows there’s an end in sight.”

“You think you guys are okay?” Mason asked, frowning.

“It’s better since we talked,” Liam agreed, “I think we’re both amicably over it.”

“It’s about damn time,” he grinned.

“Yeah,” Liam laughed, “Yeah, I guess it is.”

“And what about Theo?” Mason asked casually, glancing at Liam for his reaction. He was not disappointed.

“What?!” Liam spluttered, turning pink and nearly spilling his water.

“Come on, man,” Mason insisted, “You were all over him the other night. You’re going to have to talk to me about it eventually.”

“There’s nothing to talk about,” Liam said quickly, face still bright pink.

“Uh-huh,” he said, unconvinced, but let it drop. Liam might not be ready to talk about it yet, but he had a feeling that he was at least starting to think about it.

 

Maybe it came as a way to take his mind off of the damage that he had caused, or maybe Mason had just somehow become overly invested in his best friend’s love life, but he found himself standing at the top of a set of sleek wooden stairs, in front of the door to Theo Raeken’s apartment.

He knocked, waited a minute or two, and then was about to go when the door opened slightly.

“Mason?” Theo asked. He looked tired. He had for the past few days. Tired and quiet. “What are you doing here?”

“I need to talk to you about something,” he said, “Can I come in?”

Theo looked at him for a few seconds and then stood back, pulling the door open a little wider to let Mason inside.

He had only been to Theo’s apartment once, but he was struck again by how unfairly nice it was. A convict who paid next to nothing for an apartment with a view. That would be Theo, he supposed. Not that that kind of luck didn’t come hand in hand with the very worst kind.

“What’s up?” Theo asked, going back to the island in the middle of the kitchen, where a cup of tea or coffee or something was still steaming.

“What’s going on with you and Liam?” he asked, deciding to cut right to the chase. Playing with words around Theo rarely ended in anyone else’s victory.

He froze. “What makes you think there’s something going on between us?” He asked, voice going dangerously quiet.

“I’m sorry, did you think you were being subtle the other night at the bar?” Mason raised his eyebrows at him, trying not to let himself be intimidated by Theo.

Theo opened his mouth, but then closed it, looking defeated, and sank into one of the stools at the island.

“I don’t know,” he said, shaking his head, “He was just drunk, and I – never mind.”

“You what?” Mason asked, watching him closely and he sat on the stool next to Theo’s.

Theo glared at him. “I don’t need you going back and telling Liam things that he doesn’t need to worry about,” he gritted out.

“I won’t tell Liam anything you don’t want me to,” Mason said carefully, “But what makes you think it doesn’t concern him?”

“Because I know how he feels and I know how I feel,” Theo looked away, sipping at his drink.

“Did you talk to him about it?” Mason asked.

Theo snorted in dark amusement. “I don’t need to.”

“Then talk to me about it,” he suggested bravely.

Theo looked at him for a minute, assessing.

“You like Liam,” Mason tried again.

“I do,” Theo confessed quietly, “More than I should.”

“What makes you think he doesn’t like you back?” Mason frowned. As far as he could tell, Liam tended to show more preference for Theo than Theo did for Liam, but he could never be too sure.

“He doesn’t trust me. Whatever we were before, whether or not we were even friends, that’s gone now. I don’t know if I can get it back,” he said, lips turning downwards, eyes dropping to where his hands rested on the countertop.

“Theo,” Mason said, “As far as Liam’s concerned, you ran away. Twice in one day. And actions speak louder than words.”

“Then what do I do?” Theo asked, almost desperately.

“You do what you can to help him,” Mason replied, “You do your job. Help us find Sebastien.”

Theo straightened suddenly. “I can find him,” he said determinedly, “But I need something out of Evidence.”

 

“I thought you said you didn’t know what that key went to,” Liam scowled, still watching intently as Theo fitted Tracy’s key into the oddly shaped hole in one side of a silver metal box that Theo had pulled from his pocket.

“I was lying,” Theo said flatly, “Surprise.”

Mason raised his eyebrows but said nothing. Theo had changed a lot. At this point, he almost always did what he could to help them, or maybe just Liam, but still, he helped. Mason wasn’t sure what motive Theo had for hiding the box and the key from them, but it must have been a good one.

He withdrew the key, looping the necklace over his head, disregarding, apparently, that it was still technically a piece of evidence.

The top of the box had popped open slightly when he had unlocked it, and he flipped the lid open. Whatever Mason had been expecting to be inside, it wasn’t that.

“Is that a cell phone?” Liam asked.

It was. It was a little used, practically ancient, technologically speaking, and Mason would be surprised if it still worked, but it was a cell phone.

“It used to be my sister’s,” Theo said vaguely, not making eye-contact with either of them, “She and Tracy were friends.”

Mason glanced at Liam, who was looking at Theo in somewhat dismayed surprise.

“How is this going to help us find Sebastien?” Mason asked.

“I know where to find Sebastien,” Theo said, handing him the phone almost reverently. Mason flipped it open to the photo gallery and found a number of photos with enough evidence to put Sebastien away for longer than Theo. “This is going to help you arrest him.”

“Why didn’t you give it to us until now?” Liam asked, peering at the phone over Mason’s shoulder.

“Because there’s enough evidence on there to have both of us executed,” Theo said. His face and voice were void of emotion, but the single glance at Liam told Mason all he needed to know. Theo would literally give his life for him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Before you say anything, Theo's being a dramatic little shit. I don't think they still have the death penalty in CA, and if they do, I'm sure it's rare. Make no mistake, the evidence on the phone would be really really bad. But he will probably not die because of it...probably. :)


	15. Theo

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Three very important things:  
> 1\. I want to warn you before you read this that there is a part in this chapter that might be a little weird and disturbing, so I'll tell you what it is in the end notes and how to read around it if you want.  
> 2\. The next chapter is only a few hundred words (sorry if you were expecting a full-length chapter, but that's just what it is), however, there is going to be a part 4 that will be two chapters (no idea how long yet), both of which will go up next week  
> 3\. I'm sure I'll say it again in the last chapter (which is going up right after this one), but thank you so so so much to all of you for reading and commenting and leaving kudos and all of those fantastic things that you people do! I can't even tell you how much it means to me that you have stuck it out through all 70k+ words of this series so far (not counting Black Diamond). It's truly incredible and you all make me ridiculously happy, so thank you <3
> 
> And finally: Enjoy!

Theo had always known that revealing the existence of Tara’s cellphone would have been the end to this life as a criminal consultant that he had somehow built up. It would be the end to everything, really. He remembered when the three of them had begun accumulating evidence on it. Text messages, pictures of documents and the workings of their organization. Names and faces and addresses. Everything that three children could find to give themselves the feeling that they had the power to right the wrongs that they had already committed in the world. That if things ever went too far for their fragile, innocent morality, there would be a way to bring the entire operation crumbling to the ground. Even at ten years old, they had been aware that they would end up buried underneath the rubble. They did it anyways.

Tara had kept it at first, and when she died, Tracy had been so mad at Theo, she had threatened to bring it to the police. They had come near to the Dread Doctors finding out about their secret pact for the first time that night. Tracy had only just had time to hide it in a locked jewelry box in her room before they barged in to see what the argument was about. She had kept it from then on.

Theo wasn’t sure what they had thought their line of morality would be. He was pretty sure he had already crossed it many times over. Now, though, he was the only one left. If he handed it over, he wouldn’t be crushing Tara or Tracy, it would just be himself. He and Sebastien would be brought down together by the three child weapons that Sebastien himself had created.

“No,” Liam said, looking up at Theo from where he had been staring at the cellphone for a very long time. He took it out of Mason’s hand quickly, stepping back as though the two of them might try to take it away from him.

“What do you mean, _no_?” Theo asked, annoyed. It wasn’t like he hadn’t thought this out. It wasn’t like he didn’t know exactly what he was doing by giving Liam that phone.

“I mean no,” Liam snapped, “Do you want to hear it in Spanish? ¡No!”

“Liam – “

“What did you think I was going to say?” he continued, eyes blazing, “ _Sure, that’s a great idea Theo, just give the state everything they need to make your life a living hell – or worse_? They won’t care how much you’ve changed! You’ll be in solitary confinement until the day you die!”

“I thought you wanted to arrest Sebastien,” Theo pointed out, feeling the anger bubble up inside, “This is the only way that’s going to happen.”

Mason was watching them with wide eyes, mouth slightly open, but silent.

“There’s another way,” Liam insisted, “There’s _always_ another way!”

Theo scowled. “Really? Because Sebastien is the definition of paranoid. There is no evidence. There never has been and never will be. Except for what’s on that phone. You think I haven’t thought this through? It’s been the only option since day one. If I have to go down too in order to take him down, I will. I have nothing to lose.”

Liam stared at him. “Nothing?” he asked quietly.

Theo stared back. Liam’s eyes were wide, for once full of feeling. Neither of them noticed when Mason slipped out of the small, poorly lit evidence room.

“No,” Theo said lamely, “I’m not dying for you.”

“I’m not dying for you either,” Liam snapped. It had less bite this time, “…But I will fight with you.”

Theo found himself staring in silence again. He wasn’t sure what to say.

“We’ll find Sebastien and we’ll look for more evidence,” Liam said, suddenly sounding like the FBI agent that he was, “If we don’t find any more evidence, we’ll use this,” he handed the phone back to Theo, who held it for a second before putting it ack in its box, “But only as a last resort.”

He looked at Liam, who was looking earnest and determined. He nodded.

“Fine,” Theo said, “Where did Mason go?”

Liam flushed pink, but he shrugged. “I don’t know, but we should go find him. Maybe…maybe we shouldn’t tell Scott about the phone yet…”

“I know where we can find Sebastien,” Theo said, “How much trouble do you think you’ll get in if we go after him without a warrant?”

 

Liam and Mason strapped on their bullet-proof vests, Liam still glaring at Theo for refusing to wear one. He had never needed one before. Sebastien was ruthless, but he had created Theo and didn’t tend to shoot people in general. That was too simple.

“What’s the plan, exactly?” Mason asked. They were in Liam’s kitchen, having told Scott just enough to be allowed access to the supplies that they needed, but not enough to arouse suspicion.

“Go in through the back of the building,” Theo said, “We’ll do a sweep for evidence on our way up. He’ll be in the penthouse.”

“What about security?” Liam asked.

“They know me,” Theo replied, “It shouldn’t be a problem getting in.”

“You’re with two FBI agents,” Mason reminded him, “I’m sure they’ve figured out that you’re working with us by now.”

“They’re more loyal to me now than they are to him,” Theo said, “They know that I’ll have a plan and I’ll follow through no matter what.” Liam looked skeptical. “But if they give us trouble, we have these,” Theo said, picking a taser up off of the table.

Liam and Mason looked at each other. “I guess it’s the best we’ve got,” Liam offered. Mason shrugged.

“Let’s get these in the car, then,” Theo said, hefting a bag off of the table and onto his shoulder.

Mason came up alongside him as they walked from Liam’s house to Theo’s truck. Liam was still inside, double checking the handguns that he and Mason would bring.

“What are you planning?” Mason asked.

Theo looked at him. “Nothing. Why?”

“It feels like you’re planning something.” He stopped in front of Theo before he could get the door to the truck open. “Tell me you’re not making this into some kind of suicide mission.”

“I wouldn’t put either of you in that kind of danger,” Theo frowned.

“I didn’t mean for us. You’re not planning on coming out of this alive, are you? At least not for long?”

Theo sighed, waving Mason aside so that he could dump his bag into the back seat of the truck. “I’m not planning anything,” he told him, truthfully for once, “But if something happens, I would rather it happens to me than either of you.”

Mason stared at him in surprise. “Wait, this isn’t just about Liam?”

Theo rolled his eyes. “Not everything is always about Liam, no matter what you people seem to think.” He took a breath. He might as well say it now. “I have nothing against you, Mason.”

It was maybe not the most profound or most elegant way to say that he considered someone more or less a friend, but there it was.

Mason smiled, and then it turned into a full-blown grin. “I’m glad we’re friends too,” he told Theo, “but just so you know, if you die today, I will murder you myself.” He turned and walked cheerfully into the house, presumably to hurry Liam along.

“That doesn’t make any sense!” Theo yelled after him.

 

He knew that it would be hard to process Sebastien without a warrant for his arrest, particularly if they didn’t find any evidence, but Liam was determined and in an indignant rage, so there was really no stopping him at this point. Theo hadn’t foreseen it exactly, but he hadn’t been dumb enough to go into this mission without a backup plan for a warrant. He had sent a copy of all of the evidence that was on the phone to Lydia with instructions to get a warrant as soon as possible and an address where she would hopefully find both them and Sebastien.

 

It was about as easy as Theo had suspected, getting into the building. He got some shit for bringing Liam and Mason along, but mostly the people guarding the building were the people he had grown up with. People who saw the little boy as more in charge than the asshole whole killed his workers willy nilly.

Liam and Mason were understandably surprised. They had never lived in this world, and it was entirely possible that they had never even thought about the guards watching the building as people. Theo had pet one of their dogs. He had gone to the baptism of another’s first born, even though he wasn’t Christian. He knew how to manipulate people, it was true, but he also knew that that meant that he had to take the risk of getting to know them first.

They were spread out, looking through rooms on the second floor when a woman with a stern face and a tightly done French braid laying down her back poked her head into the room.

“What are you looking for?” she asked.

Liam and Mason looked at each other and reached for their guns with less subtlety than they were probably aware of.

“Evidence to arrest Sebastien,” he said, smiling faintly at the expressions on Liam and Mason’s faces.

“You won’t find it here,” she told them, “It’ll be in the penthouse. He’s started keeping backups of his business transactions. The guards are new, though. I hope you brought more than that stun gun.”

Theo rolled his eyes. “I think I’ll be fine,” he told her, “Thanks Marie.”

“Try not to get yourself killed,” she said, sounding slightly bored.

“I don’t get it,” Mason muttered, “I really don’t get it.”

“To the penthouse, then?” Liam suggested, nodding to the stairs.

“Yeah, but let’s take the elevator.”

 

The silence on the way up was deafening. Theo had assured them that Sebastien would want to talk. He would already know they were coming, but he could still feel them watching him nervously, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

The elevator dinged, making Liam jump, and the doors slid open. They were facing a semicircle of armed guards with Sebastien standing behind them in the middle of the living room, hands folded behind his back. He didn’t look like he was getting old, although Theo thought that he must have been in his fifties by now.

“Theo Raeken,” he said, accent thick as ever, “Did you come to arrest me? Your new friends at the FBI must not have remembered to tell you that you need a warrant for that. Or…I don’t know, evidence?”

“We have everything we need,” he said, refusing to allow his hand to go towards the pocket that he was keeping the box in.

“How could you have…” he narrowed his eyes, “So that’s what Tracy was keeping from me. What is it?”

“A cell phone,” Theo said. Now he was remembering why he and Tara and Tracy had started calling Sebastien the Beast (a name that had quickly caught on). He had a terrible temper and killed aimlessly. But he was also boring as hell when he started talking. “Come out from behind your human sacrifices so that we can arrest you.”

Sebastien narrowed his eyes, looking between the three of them and came forwards. He stopped in line with two of his guards. “Shoot that one,” he said, pointing at Liam.

Everything seemed to slow down and speed up all at once. A bullet left the gun, headed straight for Liam’s heart, and Theo saw red. He charged at Sebastien, wielding his taser, which he used without hesitation to take out every guard within reach on the way. Shots rang out, bullets flying close enough to him that he could feel the heat of them and hear the sound they made through the air. Liam and Mason were still behind him, Mason yelling something. He didn’t dare look back at Liam.

The taser was wrenched from his hand, but Theo kept going. Sebastien was moving into another room, away from the flying bullets, and Theo, somehow, made it through the door and into the large, open work room. He paused just inside, looking around for Sebastien.

“You never wanted to see it, Theo,” he said, his voice coming from a section of a lab on the far side of the room.

“What?” He spat, beginning to cross the room, still reeling with anger and hatred.

Sebastien turned, holding something in his hands that made Theo freeze. “Her heart.”

He fell to his knees, feeling like the floor had just fallen out from under him. Not now. He couldn’t handle this now. Not with Liam dying in the other room. He had to do…something…

“Why is it that you never wanted to see it, Theo?” He asked walking closer. Theo could feel himself shaking.

“Why did you keep it?” He gasped, breaths coming as pants.

“The same reason you kept that cell phone,” he snarled, dropping the steel-encased organ in front of Theo. “For insurance.”

He turned, looking like he was about to leave, and cocked his head. “Who did you call?” he demanded.

Theo couldn’t look away from the silver heart in front of him, so Sebastien, with uncanny strength for a middle-aged man, pulled him up by the collar of his shirt so that he was barely standing on his toes.

“The FBI,” a voice said behind him. Theo craned his neck to see who it was, but before he could turn far enough, a bullet whizzed past him, catching Sebastien in the shoulder, and he fell to the ground.

Two pairs of footsteps raced over to him, and he heard what he recognized as Scott’s voice reading Sebastien his Miranda Rights.

A hand extended to him and he took it gratefully, allowing himself to be pulled to his feet until he saw who the had belonged to. “Stiles?”

“This doesn’t make us friends,” Stiles warned him.

“Where’s Liam?” were the first words out of Theo’s mouth, which might have been embarrassing if he hadn’t been so worried. “Is he okay? He was shot and – “

Stiles rolled his eyes. “Liam’s fine. Just got the wind knocked out of him. He was wearing a bullet proof vest. Which you should have been wearing too, by the way,” Stiles crossed his arms, “You’re lucky I didn’t miss.”

Theo glanced down at the heart on the floor.

“Is that – “ Stiles started to ask, his eyes following Theo’s.

“Tara’s,” he looked at Stiles, “I know you have to put it in evidence, but can I – “

“We’ll return it to you so that you can bury it,” Scott said, as he walked past with Sebastien in cuffs.

Theo nodded after him and looked back at Stiles.

“I didn’t realize –“ Stiles didn’t finish, but he didn’t have to. Theo knew what he meant. It was the closest to a gesture of understanding that he would probably ever get from Stiles.

“Thanks,” he said.

“Yeah, well,” Stiles shifted, looking slightly uncomfortable, “Lydia likes you, so…speaking of which –

“Are you fucking kidding me with this?” Lydia said, storming into the room as Stiles made his escape, looking perfect and dangerous in three-inch wedges as she waved a manila envelope clutched in perfectly manicured fingers, red hair flying behind her like fire, “I’m half a second away from burning it, Theo, I swear to god!”

There were FBI agents and police officers in bullet-proof vests and at least one SWAT team beginning to trickle in, but Lydia was by far the scariest of them all.

“I thought we would need the warrant,” Theo said, hands coming up defensively in front of him, “I didn’t know he would be stupid enough to keep backups of his business transactions.”

“If you really thought that I would just _let_ you sacrifice yourself to put this asshole in jail, then you’re a bigger idiot than I thought!” She snapped, “I haven’t gone through all of your bullshit for you to be given a lethal injection before you grow a pair big enough to talk to Liam!”

Theo looked wildly around to see if anyone heard. “Can you please not say that so loud –“

“Oh, like hell I will!” She snarled, pulling out a lighter and setting the envelope on fire, dumping it into an empty trashcan nearby. They watched the evidence turn to ashes, and then suddenly Lydia was hugging him. “Never do something like that again!” she instructed as she pulled away, “Or I’ll wash my hands of you.”

Theo smiled. A real smile. He could feel it. “Well, we can’t have that,” he said, “I still have a hell of a lot of bullshit for you to go through.”

“I hate you,” she told him, hugging him tightly again.

 

Theo hadn’t seen Liam since Sebastien had been arrested. Both he and Mason were fine, but the paperwork had become nearly unbearable, even for Theo, who had far less of it as a consultant. The evidence that they had needed had been in a safe in the Penthouse, but easily obtained once that became a crime scene. That worked out well, since Theo found that a bullet had ripped through the box in his pocket and lodged itself in the phone, destroying all of that evidence for good. It felt weirdly like Tara and Tracy had just saved his life twice in one day.

Theo skipped a day of Sebastien’s trial when Scott, silently and with a look of sad understanding, handed him a heavy box that contained Tara’s heart. Theo took it out of the city, to the graveyard where he and Tracy had buried her with just initials on a gravestone and paid probably too much money to have the grave digger rest the box on top of her coffin.

When the dirt was smoothed over, he placed a bouquet of wildflowers over her and straightened the black jacket of his suit. It didn’t feel good. Not even a little. But maybe it felt like closure.

 

On his way back into the city, he stopped at a grocery store and picked up a carton of ice cream and a six pack of beer. Then he continued through the city, almost all of the way to his apartment.

He wasn’t sure if he would be welcome or if Liam would even be home, but he parked outside of the familiar blue house and climbed up the concrete steps, taking a deep breath before knocking on the front door. It took a minute or two, but Liam finally answered.

Theo held up the ice cream and beer as a peace offering, feeling a little silly in his black suit and black tie, eyes still just a little red and puffy. “Want to share?” he asked.

Liam stared at him for a minute and then smiled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Spoiler: Sebastien has kept Tara's heart (encased in metal), which he shows to Theo, who doesn't want to see it and kind of panics when he is shown it. I don't know if that will trigger anyone, but it's kind of a weird thing to put in a fic (I tried to take it out, but it just kept coming back. Sorry.) so I figured better safe than sorry.
> 
> How to skip: skip from "You never wanted to see it" when Theo leaves the living room of the Penthouse and start again at "The FBI" ~9 lines later (spoiler: Sebastien is trying to use Tara's heart as leverage against Theo, then he hears sirens before anything can happen.) That's probably the worst of it. Again, not a whole lot, but it's just kind of wierd, so.
> 
> Let me know if you see any other iffy parts/subjects that I should put in the notes to guide people around :) I feel like there are a few little things in this chapter, but hopefully not too bad?


	16. Epilogue (Liam)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part 4 will go up next week, but if there's anything that you notice or would like more of or want clarified or tied up before the series is over, let me know, and I will try to include it! (I'm sure when I go back through all of these fics I will find a ton of loose ends that I should have included!)
> 
> Without further ado, please enjoy the last installment of Push and Pull :D

Lydia seemed annoyed for some reason. It had actually been a while since they had hung out, so maybe that was why. She had been spending a lot of time with Theo since he had gotten out of jail, but Liam was Not Thinking About Theo, so he let that theory fall to the back of his mind.

“We should head back,” she said around another scoop of coffee ice cream. Apparently, this was what pregnant people ate for lunch, but Liam was hardly complaining, “Scott said he has a new assignment for you.”

“What new assignment?” he asked, already turning to head back towards the office.

Lydia shrugged. “What makes you think he told me?”

“Lydia, you _always_ know,” Liam told her. It wasn’t even pandering, really, if it was true.

“Well, I don’t. I just know that you’re going to Colorado or something with Theo,” she said, sneaking a glance at him.

Liam paused in the middle of the street, causing Lydia to grab his arm and pull him the rest of the way onto the sidewalk.

“I can’t go with Theo!” he protested.

“Why not?” Lydia asked.

“Because I – don’t we usually sent two agents out on assignments together? Theo’s not an agent!” Liam could feel himself blushing.

Despite Not Thinking About Theo, Liam had been thinking _around_ him a lot. Like how his house suddenly seemed really empty and he found himself spending more time in his anger management classes and at the office and at the gym that he had switched over to when he realized that going to one closer to his house really _was_ nicer. Like how damn often he thought about not thinking about Theo.

“Uh-huh,” Lydia said, clearly not convinced, “Well I don’t make the rules. You might want to take that up with Scott.”

The real problem was that Liam had found himself not being as mad at Theo as he should have been. Not nearly as mad as he should have been. And nothing had been as terrifying as the day they had gone after the Beast. Between Theo volunteering to sacrifice himself to take down the Beast and then chasing him through a room full of flying bullets _not wearing a fucking vest like Liam had asked him to_ , Liam had spent the entire day worrying more than he had probably ever done in his entire life. And that wasn’t normal. He tried to think about how he had felt about Theo way back in the beginning, how easy it had been to hate him, but that seemed strange to think about now. Now, Liam couldn’t deny that he liked Theo. Maybe a little too much. Which was exactly why he was trying to avoid him.

 

“Operation Black Diamond,” Scott said, dropping the file in front of Liam and Theo, looking incredibly proud of himself. Liam didn’t get it until he opened the file and started to read.

“Skiing?” he asked in disbelief.

“Yeah!” Scott’s face lit up, “Get it? Black Diamond, skiing – “

“We get it,” Theo said, glancing at Liam, “Can you even ski?”

“What, just because I live in California doesn’t mean –“

“Woah, hey,” Scott cut in, not looking at all put out by them arguing, “Liam can ski, Theo can snowboard. You’re both perfectly qualified.”

Liam scowled at Theo and looked back down at the file, continuing to read.

“Hang on,” Theo looked up suddenly, “Why does this say we’re fiancés?”

Liam rolled his eyes. “It’s a classic FBI cover – “ his head snapped up to look at Scott, “Wait, _fianc_ _és_?”

“It’s a classic FBI cover story. More committed than boyfriends, but you don’t need to show any paperwork like you might if you were married,” Scott continued the explanation easily.

“To _him_?” Liam pointed at Theo, which was maybe a little rude, but Liam was flat-out panicking.

“Chin up, buttercup,” Theo said leaning back in his chair, looking slightly amused, a sparkle in his eye that he got whenever he started forming a plan. Liam usually ended up not liking those plans, “These are terrorists. Don’t you want to save the world?”

Liam set his jaw in determination. He had survived so much in the past few months. He could survive a week of pretending to be engaged to Theo without letting himself fall in love.

“Fine.”

Probably.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just want to thank everyone again for all of the support that you've shown this fic and to me! I've been working on this series for about six months now, and I know I'm going to miss it when it's all over, and you guys are definitely part of that! Thanks so much for reading <3


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